Family says sex offender treated unfairly by police

4-28-2014 Texas:

An Edinburg woman claims the police department is treating her husband unfairly when it comes to registering as a sex offender.

Victor Salinas did verify as the sex offender unit Monday morning, but his wife, Maria said the process was very inconvenient.

Maria Salinas's husband, Victor, has been a registered sex offender since 2002.

"He has to register for life as a sex offender so we're doing that, but we've been doing fine. We were doing that with county and we never had an issue," said Maria Salinas.

That all changed with their home was annexed into the city of Edinburg about four months ago. Maria said both she and Victor told the investigator they could not make the appointment the police department had scheduled for Victor to verify his sex offender registration.

She told Action 4 that's when an investigator "threatened" to issue an arrest warrant.

"He just told me, ‘I don’t care, I don’t care what it is. You can’t change it, but if he doesn’t show up, I will have him arrested."

Billerica father contests 'dangerous sex offender' label

3-31-2014 Massachusetts:

LOWELL -- When Sunday ___ (The Father) was arrested on his front lawn in front of family and his neighbors last May for failure to register as a sex offender, he claims the Billerica police incorrectly labeled him a "dangerous sex offender.''

He argues that the Billerica police "attempted to criminalize the defendant as a dangerous sex offender.'' The Father, who is black, also suggests he is the victim of racial profiling by the police.

A court hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, when he, a Level 1 sex offender (least likely to re-offend) will argue that he was improperly charged with failure to register as a sex offender and resisting arrest.

Neither he nor the Billerica Police Department could be reached for comment.

The incident that triggered the court battle began on May 21, 2013, when Billerica Officer Scott Peloquin pulled over the Father's three sons. When Peloquin learned that the boys' father was at home, he told the boys he was headed to their house.

That action put the boys "under fear and intimidation by (Peloquin) driving behind them ... through the streets and neighborhood to their home,'' the father alleges.

The father wrote that he was targeted because he is a Level 1 sex offender.

San Juan County Sheriff's Office deputies ramp up sex offender registration check

3-23-2014 New Mexico:

Drawing attention: Publicized process attracts neighbors' attention during routine checks

AZTEC — San Juan County Sheriff's Office Deputy Robert Tallman slowly drove a truck — one with a sign that read "Sex Offender Registration Unit" on the tailgate and the side door — through a Crouch Mesa neighborhood on Wednesday.

Two deputies followed in cars with their police lights flashing.

The purpose of the visit was to verify sex offender registration information. The sign and the flashing lights are meant to draw attention to the convicted sex offenders and warn neighbors, Sheriff Ken Christesen said.

Christesen said he has ramped up the sex offender registration program since taking office in 2011. He said he has increased the number of registration checks, improved the program's technology and publicized the process.

"I'm not going to ever be soft on sex offenders," Christesen said. "I want to make sure everybody knows where they live. If the sex offenders don't like it, maybe they should move to a different state."

Making sex offenders' addresses readily available serves the public because sex offenders have a high rate of recidivism, Christesen said. If a child goes missing, police can quickly check people who live near the area and have committed a sex crime against a child, he said.