Tampa police requests extension on sex predator report to city council amid 'clustering' concerns

By Matthew McClellan

Published February 3, 2022 7:44AM

TAMPA, Fla. - Tampa police are asking city leaders for more time to gather data and complete their study on the housing of sexual predators in the city, specifically Ybor City. The department was originally set to appear before the city council on Thursday and provide a report on the matter.

Only three neighborhoods in Tampa meet the criteria that allow convicted sex offenders to move in, including the Nebraska Avenue and Forest Avenue area, otherwise known as the V.M. Ybor neighborhood.

Then, there's the 4700 block of East Hillsborough Avenue in northeast Tampa. The third area is where Florida Avenue meets Hillsborough Avenue in Seminole Heights.

Kim Headland lives in the V.M. Ybor area, complaining to city council last November that there are about 80 sex offenders living within a quarter-mile radius of her home. She and others are calling on city leaders to enforce Hillsborough's ordinance against clustering sex offenders.

"I moved into the neighborhood back in 2000. At that time, there was not the concentration of offenders and predators in the East Tampa community that we see today," she told council members when the issue was discussed. "Since then, hundreds, if not thousands, of offenders have been deliberately funneled into our community, much to the financial benefit of just a few property owners and much to the perceived convenience of TPD, but unfortunately to the huge detriment of the community."

According to Tampa police, there are more than 800 sex offenders with registered addresses within city limits. Another 29 are listed as homeless. Of those offenders with physical addresses, 100 live in the V.M. Ybor area. Concerns among residents range from decreasing property values to a deteriorating historic district to general safety.

Headland pointed out more than 60 convicted offenders living in just three single structures along Nebraska Avenue, not to mention offenders who are transient.

"Would that be okay one block from your house?" she asked city council. "Would you be OK letting your teenager walk to play basketball or football, two blocks from your house when you know they have to pass by there? Would you be OK sending your 7-year-old to her elementary school bus stop that is literally located in front of these houses?"

Interim TPD chief Ruben Delgado said in an October memo to council that the problem is difficult to solve, and that attempting to de-cluster offenders can often lead to more transient offenders. Delgado said that can make tracking and monitoring offenders exponentially more difficult.

Hillsborough County does have an ordinance that restricts clustering sex offenders, but its language is vague and has never been enforced by the city or county.

"There has been a very systematic and deliberate release of individuals to just three locations in the city," Headland told council members in November. "Nebraska Avenue, V.M. Ybor is one of those locations. so today I’m asking council to address this very real public safety issue. The issue that’s inherent in funneling an at-risk population in extremely high density to just a handful of areas within city limits."

The Tampa Police Department is now asking city council for a six-month extension for data gathering, analysis and a presentation to disclose the study's findings.

"We are respectfully asking for a continuance to complete the study and present the findings on August 4, 2022," assistant chief Lee Bercaw said in a memo to city council members.