Oceanside urges residents to report indecent exposure cases

OCEANSIDE — Between Sept. 1, 2008, and Sept. 15, 2009, the Oceanside Police Department reported taking reports on 31 indecent exposure cases.
The police noted that they understand that a portion of these crimes may not be reported for reasons such as anxiety about the victim’s identification being made public or fear that people may not believe the victim. The department wants to assure residents that all cases are taken seriously and investigated to the full extent to ensure these criminals are incarcerated and documented to track their activity. Reporting the crimes are crucial to the apprehension and successful prosecution of these criminals.
In 74 percent of those reported cases, the suspect was either arrested, identified, a warrant was issued or a complaint was requested through the District Attorney’s office. The other 26 percent of the suspects were unknown or unable to be identified by the victims. In August 2009, seven cases were reported and five suspects were either arrested or identified during the investigation.
The city of Oceanside has 247 registered sex offenders. The department has the ability through State Parole to track these sex offenders who are on parole and are required to wear a GPS tracking device.
The Oceanside Police Department has an employee designated to keep track of these offenders and monitor their activity through the California State Parole and to make sure they remain registered as a sex offender. According to State Parole, all registered sex offenders in the area who are on parole must wear a GPS tracking device.