Temecula Approves Halloween Sex Offender Crackdown

Temecula is set to crackdown on sex offenders on Halloween.

The City Council passed an ordinance during a meeting at the Civic Center that bars offenders from opening their doors for trick-or-treaters or putting decorations on their homes, according to city documents.

To read the ordinance, click on the PDF file to the right under the photo.

The ordinance was created after the county enacted a similar plan for unincorporated areas of the county. To read about it, .

Temecula's Jeff Stone, asked cities to join his fight against sex crime and enact ordinances based on what the county did.

This is the first time the city passed such an ordinance, though city officials discussed it before. "Last year, we were in the same predicament. Nobody thought of it until it was too late to get it done," said Mayor Pro-Tem Chuck Washington.

The sheriff's department reached out to each offender living in Temecula to tell them about the new ordinance, according to Andre O'Harra, the chief of the Temecula Police Department.

Deputies will be standing by ready to enforce the new policy, according to Assistant City Manager Grant Yates. "They're ready to provide enforcement as needed," he said.

The city has good legal precedent for enacting the ordinance, said City Attorney Peter Thorson. "There are some really good legal arguments to support this," he said.