Sex Offender Data May Go on TV

Led by mayoral candidate Antonio Villaraigosa, three Los Angeles City Council members announced a plan Thursday to broadcast information, possibly including addresses and photographs, about the city’s 4,000 registered sex offenders on television.

“My interest is protecting children,” said Villaraigosa, who was flanked by council members Jack Weiss and Wendy Greuel in a news conference in front of the city’s police headquarters.

The news conference began with an announcement that there are 302 registered sex offenders living within a one-mile radius of Parker Center. The council members said they would introduce a proposal today to begin broadcasting information about them and all the others on Channel 35, the city’s cable television station.

They also called for posting the information from the California Department of Justice’s Megan’s Law database on the city’s website. Megan’s Laws, which authorize local law enforcement agencies to inform the public about registered sex offenders living in their communities, have been enacted by states across the country since a New Jersey girl named Megan Kanka was murdered by a known child molester who moved in across the street.

“All three of us are here today as parents,” said Weiss, who added that Megan’s Law does “no good” if people can’t access its information.

Civil liberties advocates disagreed.

“We think it’s a mistake,” said Ramona Ripston, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. She pointed out that the database contains errors, which could lead to innocent people being painted as sexual predators and lulling parents into a false sense of security.

The three council members were vague about how exactly the program would work, admitting that they did not know how much information they were legally allowed to broadcast and that they had not figured out what the format would be.

City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo expressed support for the plan “as a father” and “as a prosecutor” and said his office is researching the city’s options.

While such information is widely available on the Internet, officials said they are aware of no other city that has put such information on television.

The proposal comes amid a heated mayoral race in which many of the candidates are striving to position themselves as guardians of public safety.

Four years ago, when Villaraigosa ran for the first time against Mayor James K. Hahn, the city’s Police Protective League ran radio ads criticizing the councilman for voting against tougher laws on sex offenders when he was in the state Assembly.