Washington state Governor Chris Gregoire is caught red handed being a "knee jerk" responder to a problem.
A handful of the state's most dangerous sex offenders soon could wear tracking devices as part of a new effort announced Wednesday by Gov. Chris Gregoire.
The devices -- global positioning systems in ankle bracelets -- cannot prevent violent crimes but can help police know if a sex offender was at the scene of a crime, officials said.
The move comes after the July kidnapping and slaying of 12-year-old Zina Linnik of Tacoma. Police arrested a sex offender, Terapon Adhahn, in connection with the case. Adhahn now faces aggravated first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping and first-degree rape charges in Pierce County.
Unfortunately for Gregoire, even if this program were in place at the time, it would not have stopped Terapon Adhahn from killing of the 12 year old child. Why? Because Terapon was a level 1 sex offender at the time, the lowest level there is. So, even by this plan, he wouldn't have been monitored, and all it is, is a knee jerk, feel good, additional cost that the tax payers of Washington state are going to have to endure.
Plus, you won't know where a child is in relation to the offender who's being monitored until after something tragic has happened.
Christine Gregoire also has a big problem on her hands with her bit of hypocrisy. She wants to look like she's being tough on crime, but has now required probation and parole officers to get permission to search an offenders home while they are on state supervision. Before, this permission was not needed and was a requirement for the offender to sign off on as a condition of their parole.
Now, offenders can literally have a child handcuffed in a back room, and without a warrant, police cannot do anything to check in on the offender, regardless of how dangerous that person is.
Governor Gregoire also has been a bit tight with the purse strings when it comes to the Department of Corrections and will not give out much needed raises and bumps in budgets to combat dangerous felons when they are on supervision.
This is a disaster waiting to happen. There have already been a few Seattle police officers murdered by people on state supervision, yet the Governor doesn't push for more funds for more parole/probation officers. Instead, she ties their hands on what they can and cannot do with an offender, even if he/she is suspected of returning back to old ways.
When a parole/probation officer tries to put these people in jail for their offenses, Gregoire had rules in place that let's these people out of jail early and on rare occasions, these people kill innocent people, including three Seattle police officers.
Now she's back pedaling and Gregoire wants harsher punishments for these offenders and won't give funding to follow through with these new, tougher rules. For example, if more people are in jail or there are stricter rules for parole/probation, then there are additional staff that need to be hired or trained.
What's worse is that Gregoire is only focusing on one group of criminals: Level III Sex Offenders. Currently, the only way that one can be classified as a Level III Sex Offender in Washington state is to commit multiple sex crimes. It's the Level I and Level II sex offenders that my sources say need to be monitored more closely, such as Adhahn.
Unfortunately, three Seattle police officers had to die before she decides that crime is bad. They are Police officers and people Gregoire, not photo opportunities to make yourself look good to voters.
Travis
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