SB 185-SEX OFFENDER/CHILD KIDNAPPER REGISTRATION    2:29:58 PM CHAIR FRENCH announced the consideration of SB 185. Before the committee was CSSB 185(STA). SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI, sponsor, described SB 185 as legislation to keep Alaska in the forefront on the battle against sexual predators. It requires convicted sex offenders to register their email addresses and other electronic identifiers in addition to their home address, which is already required. This is important in Alaska since this state has one of the highest uses of the Internet in the country. The concern, which is substantiated by experts, is that there is great potential for Internet predation by sex abusers. According to public safety officials, an estimated 16,000 sexual predators are prowling the Internet right now. This powerful tool would help keep track of convicted sexual predators' activities and it will help to catch and punish them if they do break the law. Currently only three states require sex offenders to register their email addresses but more than 12 have legislation in the works. SB 185 has support from the Department of Public Safety, law enforcement across the state, and many other groups. "This is common sense bill that will keep our children safer," he said. 2:32:12 PM RON TIDLER, Detective Sergeant, Anchorage Police Department (APD) and Commander of the Alaska Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force said the concerns he expressed in the previous committee have been addressed in the committee substitute (CS). On behalf of the task force, he stated support for SB 185. CHAIR FRENCH asked him to tell the committee about his day-to- day job and what the Anchorage Police Department is doing with respect to Internet sex predators. DETECTIVE SERGEANT TIDLER explained that the task force is composed of state and local agencies. Its mission is to fight Internet crimes against children using a variety of tools. For example, it's possible to identify computers that have child pornography and knowing that makes it possible get search warrants and administrative subpoenas on records to help physically locate the computers. Through forensic examination of the computers, it's possible to identify the individuals who participate in this activity so they can be charged with possession or distribution of child pornography. In some well- documented cases victims have been rescued as a result of these efforts. He said that between 40 percent and 80 percent of the subjects involved in this activity have already had some sort of sexual contact with a child. "We believe that any tool that is given to us to fight this effort is going to be well worth it," he said. 2:35:32 PM PAYTON MERIDETH, Detective, Fairbanks Police Department (FPD), stated support for SB 185 as a member of the Alaska Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. One of his duties is to investigate crimes related to children. Most of the cases he works are possession and distribution of child pornography. He's found that a number of suspects in child pornography cases are already registered sex offenders. Regardless, after someone is arrested on possession or distribution of child pornography, they're required to register as a sex offender in the state of Alaska. Because recidivism for these offenders is high, having access to email addresses and other Internet identifiers will aid law enforcement. FPD supports any bill that requires sex offenders to register this electronic information. He noted that Chief Hoffman sent a letter supporting a similar bill. The individuals working on the Alaska ICAC Task Force and the law enforcement officers working on this problem are very good at what they do and the state of Alaska should be proud of them. "They're really trying to put a dent in the problem that we have here," he said. 2:38:06 PM CHAIR FRENCH remarked the bill almost seems to be a cleanup measure. It's just another way of registering a sex offender's address. DETECTIVE MERIDETH agreed; other electronic identifiers such as memberships to organizations or websites will also help law enforcement become aware of whether or not they are using that information to again prey upon children. It's a very simple piece of information to provide. SENATOR THERRIAULT asked if these email addresses would be available to the public because that might provide a mechanism for sex offenders to communicate amongst themselves. SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI relayed that that issue was discussed extensively during a previous committee hearing because the experts were very concerned about potential information sharing. To address that concern a decision was made to establish a publicly available database so that you could enter an email address and find out whether or not that person is registered. Page 3, lines 21-25 talk about administration and that the Department of Public Safety may provide a method for participating in a federal program so it should be free to all states. 2:41:11 PM KAREN FOSTER, Surviving Parents Coalition, Anchorage, said that in honor of her daughter, who was raped and murdered, she is dedicating her life to balancing the scales of justice and protecting children. No one can understand the pain of losing a child to violent death, but it does give strength and passion that most people will never feel. Her passion is to ensure that no other parent will have her experience as a mother and not one more child will have to undergo rape, torture, and death. MS. FOSTER said she was in Washington D.C. recently working on legislation to provide funding for the ICAC Task Force. She learned how many sexual predators there are in the U.S. and that more than 50 percent of the child pornography in the world is produced and distributed in this country. She described new technology that makes it possible to identify people who are downloading illegal child pornography, the files they are downloading and with whom they are sharing the files. This gives law enforcement evidence that in most cases will allow a prosecution without a child victim having to testify. In these cases prosecutions have had a 96 percent success rate, she said. MS. FOSTER said this technology will provide law enforcement with an incredible tool so that with a couple of pushes of a button they will know if a computer contains anything illegal. She asked for a demonstration of the new technology to look at Alaska electronically. She learned that at that particular moment there were 1,428 Internet communication identifiers downloading illegal child pornography. Some of these files are best described as unspeakable acts and the titles would offend and horrify. We know where these people are, she said, but the Alaska ICAC Task Force has only a few officers to track down leads. A Department of Justice study shows that only 2 percent of these crimes are ever investigated and 30 percent of the time there's a child victim in the offender's home. Using the Alaska statistic, that means that there are more than 428 Alaska children waiting to be rescued, she said. SB 185 will help law enforcement officers rescue victims. They should be given every tool possible to do their job. MS. FOSTER noted that the bill reflects no fiscal impact on the Office of the Public Defender or the Department of Law, but she would argue that it will actually save money. She urged the committee to put politics aside and support the bill. 2:47:17 PM SUSAN SULLIVAN, Executive Director, Victims for Justice, stated support for SB 185. Requiring offenders to register their electronic addresses and Internet identifiers will assist investigators and help prevent Internet crimes. Also, it will provide peace of mind to victims and their families to know that tools are available to prevent revictimization. CHAIR FRENCH closed public testimony. 2:48:33 PM SENATOR THERRIAULT noted an inconsistency between the bill and the Department of Law (DOL) fiscal note. The bill says that any change to a an offender's electronic address must be reported by the next day and the DOL fiscal note talks about giving notice within five days. SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI explained that initially the bill was drafted to require notification within five days. There didn't seem to be any reason for that since sex offenders are required to notify the DPS within one day when they change their address. The last committee changed the time to one day and the fiscal note wasn't updated to reflect that change. 2:49:33 PM ANNE CARPENETI, Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Division, Department of Law, apologized that the fiscal note simply wasn't updated. The fiscal impact wouldn't change. CHAIR FRENCH asked if the violation for failure to register an updated address is a misdemeanor, which is the same as failure to register as a sex offender. MS. CARPENETI replied generally that's correct. CHAIR FRENCH held SB 185 for a subsequent hearing.