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“That’s kind of a lot for a small town,” said Detective Hanh Pham of the Gulfport Police Department.
According to Florida statues, a sexual offender is someone who is convicted of a sex offense against a minor and has since been released from probation or incarceration. Offenses such as child pornography, sexual performance by a child under 18, or procuring a person under 18 for purposes of prostitution, are all grounds for becoming a sex offender.
A sexual predator is someone convicted of a first-degree felony sex crime, or two second-degree felony sex crimes. These crimes do not necessarily involve a minor.
Detective Pham also stated that Gulfport is the only city in Pinellas County that does monthly at-home checks on the sexual offenders and predators. The monthly checks are unannounced and make sure that the offender is properly registered and still lives at the registered address.
Detective Pham asks if anyone knows of a sexual offender who is not properly registered to report him or her to the police. However, offenders are not considered violent and should be treated like regular citizens, said Pham.
“They are human beings. If you have nothing nice to say, don’t say anything.”
Officer Zack Mills took the floor after Detective Pham’s presentation and spoke about some of the crimes that took place in June around Gulfport.
The most common crime in June was vehicle burglary.
“There were 14 vehicle burglaries in June,” Officer Mills said. “About 90 percent of the cars were left unlocked.”
The Gulfport Police Department would like to remind its citizens to lock their car doors.
Officer Mills’ report also shows that crime has decreased in the past months, with mail thefts and bicycle thefts both drastically decreasing.
Gulfport Crime Watch meetings are held at 7 p.m. on the first Monday of every month.
I don’t understand why Detective Pham states that sex offenders are not considered violent. The two sex offenders/predators that I’ve recently crossed paths with here in Gulfport are certainly violent. One for rape of a 10 year old plus another unrelated assault. And one offender for sexual abuse and kidnapping. How you could not see those as violent? And from first hand experience, and devastating to my family, was my mothers murder in 2013 at the hands of a repeat sex offender. They’re really not regular citizens as Det. Pham wants us to believe.
Hi, thanks for your comment. Actually, the attribution to Officer Pham isn’t very clear. I’m going to look into it and clarify exactly what the officer meant, whether he was referring specifically to the registered offenders in Gulfport (according to the crimes they had committed). According to Florida law, one can be a registered sex offender without having committed an act of violence (whereas “predators” have necessarily committed violent acts). But you’re right, of course: sexual offenders can also have committed violent acts. By no means did we, or Officer Pham, mean to say that all sex offenders are non-violent. That simply isn’t true, and we apologize for any misstatement. Again, I’m going to seek more clarification on the issue and perhaps we will present that in an upcoming City Whys.
Thank you for your response and efforts to clarify. Yes, to me Det. Phams statement in the article almost makes them seem harmless. Then why so much effort by law enforcement to register and track them. They obviously don’t come out of prison rehabilitated, hence their registration. They’re certainly not regular citizens.