Monday, July 19, 2010
Which Bad Guys are Banned from YOUR 'Hood? New Online Database in City Shows You
Posted By Nicholas Phillips on Mon, Jul 19, 2010 at 11:00 AM
Circuit Clerk Mariano Favazza has rolled out a new webpage today where a city resident chooses her neighborhood on a map and then sees those folks who aren't allowed to be there.
St. Louis judges commonly issue "stay-away orders" for criminal defendants as a condition of either their probation or release on bond.
Sometimes, the judge orders offenders to keep away from a specific residence, block, street or kind of business (like a bar, or all Schnucks stores). In other cases, offenders need a probation officer's permission to go certain places. And if they violate these orders, they can be arrested, and possibly thrown in jail.
The info is all public, but up until now, only police officers had easy access to it.
"Why leave that information to 250 police officers on any given day when I can give it to 200,000 people?" Favazza says, who is being challenged in the August Democratic primary for circuit clerk. "Wouldn't it be better if you knew who wasn't supposed to be in your neighborhood?"
The database specifies where the defendant cannot tread and for how long. For many (but not all) offenders, you'll see a mugshot and links to other sites where you can track their criminal case or contact their probation officer.
"It's not a magic bullet," says Favazza. "But it balances out the playing field a bit."
St. Louis judges commonly issue "stay-away orders" for criminal defendants as a condition of either their probation or release on bond.
Sometimes, the judge orders offenders to keep away from a specific residence, block, street or kind of business (like a bar, or all Schnucks stores). In other cases, offenders need a probation officer's permission to go certain places. And if they violate these orders, they can be arrested, and possibly thrown in jail.
The info is all public, but up until now, only police officers had easy access to it.
"Why leave that information to 250 police officers on any given day when I can give it to 200,000 people?" Favazza says, who is being challenged in the August Democratic primary for circuit clerk. "Wouldn't it be better if you knew who wasn't supposed to be in your neighborhood?"
The database specifies where the defendant cannot tread and for how long. For many (but not all) offenders, you'll see a mugshot and links to other sites where you can track their criminal case or contact their probation officer.
"It's not a magic bullet," says Favazza. "But it balances out the playing field a bit."
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