In O.C., Book of Pedophiles No Easy Read

Orange County’s law enforcement agencies are pondering what to do with a book filled with the faces of the state’s worst convicted child molesters now that the directories have started arriving in the mail.

Under a law sponsored by state Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren, the photo directory is being shipped to county sheriffs and police departments “for purposes of public access.” The goal, Lungren said, is to let parents peruse the picture book for the likeness of anyone who might pose a risk to their children.

But not all local departments are rushing the guide--which includes 57 registered sex offenders now living in Orange County--onto their front counters. Concerned that the new state directive might conflict with existing policy against divulging a suspect’s criminal history, several local police departments plan to mull the issue, with plenty of legal help.

“This goes against the grain of all my training as far as making previous convictions available,” Anaheim Police Lt. Ted Labahn said. “I don’t mind being sued as long as I think I’m right, but we’ll get some legal counsel before we jump into this.”

Other police departments, such as Huntington Beach’s, plan to make the books available to anyone who asks, just as the introduction to the state directory that many received in the mail last Friday directs them to do.

“There aren’t any guidelines in here as to who can and cannot look at it,” Huntington Beach Lt. Dan Johnson said. “We are going to make this available. It is for the public’s use and anyone who wants to look at it can look at it.”

The book is organized by county and ZIP code and provides pictures, names and crime descriptions of 912 repeat sex offenders statewide who have been released from custody. The names were culled from more than 37,000 convicted child molesters in California and deemed by Lungren’s office as “the worst of the worst.”

The state directory is part of a growing and controversial movement to give the public more access to information about pedophiles and other sex criminals who have returned to the community.

Johnson said one person has asked to see the book, but it had not yet arrived. Of the 57 multiple offenders in the county, two live in Huntington Beach, he said.

The books were sent to the county’s largest agencies late last week and smaller departments should expect the directories by the end of this week, said Steve Telliano, a spokesman for the attorney general.

But critics complain that the guide could forever stigmatize sex offenders who have already done their time.

“It’s one thing to be convicted, and another thing to make it impossible for you to lead a normal life after you’ve paid your debt to society,” said Paul Hoffman, a Santa Monica attorney and former legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union.

An existing 900 number, also created under the Lungren-sponsored 1994 law, provides the same information about registered sex offenders, but interested callers must first provide a name and some other piece of identifying information about the suspected ex-convict.

Hoffman contends that including photographs in an accessible book might cross a legal line.

“A picture is different,” he said. “Certain records are public. But not all your records are public.”

Some police officials expressed a similar concern that letting anyone with an “articulable” purpose glance through the picture book clashes with their interpretation of laws pertaining to the records of “career offenders.” According to some police agencies, law enforcement officials are not supposed to discuss a suspect’s prior offenses, even though it is public information available to anyone who looks up records at county courthouses.

For Costa Mesa Police Chief David L. Snowden, whose department has not yet received the guide, making the attorney general’s book available for casual perusal could pose other dangers.

“I just don’t think making it an album on the coffee table in the lobby is a good idea,” he said. “It would be a cause of mass hysteria for people who might see someone in the book who they think they recognize, but who might not in fact be that person.”

However, Snowden said, he is eager to make information available to anyone who can provide the name of a suspected offender and a neighborhood or address.

The state law that called for the guide includes a provision to discourage vigilante action. Anyone who uses information from the book--which does not include addresses--to commit a crime faces possible penalties. The law also makes it illegal to photocopy the book or remove it from the police or sheriff’s stations.

Members of the public can use the information to determine if someone should have contact with their children, but they cannot deny someone employment that is not related to children, according to the new law. People also are forbidden from using the information to deny credit, bank loans, health insurance and housing.

The complexity of the law and the prospect of litigation if it is misused in a police lobby is somewhat daunting.

Orange County sheriff’s officials had expressed interest in posting the pictures on the department’s Internet Web site, but were concerned the move might not be within the limits of the law.

“It’s tantamount to taking the photo and putting it on a telephone pole,” Sheriff’s Lt. Ron Wilkerson said. “We can’t do that.”

Sheriff’s officials plan to discuss guidelines this week under which to make the book available, he said.

“I would imagine most agencies would be cautious,” said Fullerton Lt. Jeff Roop, whose department has not yet determined what to do with the book when it arrives. “Often, the Legislature passes something and you really don’t know how it’s going to shake out until it goes through the courts a few times.”

Telliano said the issue has already been resolved.

“We’re the lawyers for the state and we’ve looked at it very thoroughly, as has the state Legislature and the lawyers for the state Legislature,” Telliano said.

“Technically, they’re not [releasing the information]. All they’re doing is making this state book available to people who have expressed a need to see it.”

Access is key, Telliano added. Initially, Lungren had thought about making this book available at public libraries. But Telliano said the attorney general changed his mind because further study indicated pedophiles might benefit from such a book, using it to form networks of other sex offenders.

The language of the law, which states only that someone must have an “articulable” purpose to look through the guide, “was left vague on purpose,” Telliano said.

“What you have to do is give an articulable reason why having this information will somehow allow you to better protect children,” he said. “That’s the key that unlocks the door.”