TASK FORCE TARGETING MISSING SEX OFFENDERS.Byline: Karen Rubin Staff WriterIn an aggressive campaign to enforce sex-offender registration laws, Sheriff Lee Baca Leroy David Baca (b. May 27 1942, East Los Angeles, California) is the Sheriff of Los Angeles County, California. After graduating from Benjamin Franklin High School (Los Angeles) in 1960, Baca worked his way through East Los Angeles College before starting with the L.A. on Thursday launched the county's first ever task force targeting sex offenders who fail to tell authorities their whereabouts. The Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County 290 Task Force's mission is to locate, investigate and/or arrest sex offenders who are unaccounted for An inclusive term (not a casualty status) applicable to personnel whose person or remains are not recovered or otherwise accounted for following hostile action. Commonly used when referring to personnel who are killed in action and whose bodies are not recovered. or fail to tell authorities their residences. About 15,000 sex offenders live in Los Angeles County and 3,300 live within the Sheriff Department's jurisdiction. Of those, 330 have not been located. ``These individuals will knowingly commit these crimes and they must be watched,'' Baca said at Thursday's press conference at sheriff's headquarters in Monterey Park Monterey Park, city (1990 pop. 60,738), Los Angeles co., S Calif., a growing residential suburb of Los Angeles; inc. 1916. It is a wholesale, retail, and financial services center. . ``This is a serious matter.'' The seven-person team is made up of sheriff's deputies, county probation officers, state parole officers and the state Department of Justice. The team works by organizing sweeps, cross checking jail, prison, deportation and death records, and taking DNA DNA: see nucleic acid. DNA or deoxyribonucleic acid One of two types of nucleic acid (the other is RNA); a complex organic compound found in all living cells and many viruses. It is the chemical substance of genes. samples from sex offenders. The work is labor-intensive and time-consuming. Convicted sex offender and author Jake Goldenflame, a vocal supporter of Megan's Law Megan's Laws are named for Megan Kanka, a seven-year-old girl from New Jersey who was sexually assaulted and murdered in 1994 by a neighbor who, unknown to the victim's family, had been previously convicted for Sex Offenses against children. , says the clamp-down is necessary. ``Vigorous enforcement and prosecution of those failing to register is definitely needed. In the past, police and prosecutors have not given it the priority it needs.'' said Goldenflame, the author of ``Overcoming Sexual Terrorism.'' |
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