Guest Column: Bolster child safety in Florida
Together with nationwide policy experts, law enforcement officers, community leaders and parents, Stop Child Predators works to drive policy changes in Florida and across the country to combat the sexual exploitation of children.
Through these efforts we have made significant strides, from championing the passage of Jessica’s Law in 46 states to reforming the Sex Offender Registry and helping protect children from online predators.
New leaders will soon be taking office in the Florida Capitol and across the state. We hope that they will make child safety a key priority by advocating for policies to protect families and communities.
Because Florida is one of the country’s leading destinations for tourists, we are advocating that the state increase safeguards to protect children and communities amid the rapid growth of short-term rentals.
While the introduction of disruptive technologies like Airbnb allow individuals to rent apartments and homes, they can also create unintended consequences that put children at dangerous risk.
Short-term rentals have evolved from individual home sharing to commercial interests operating what are essentially hotels in residential communities.
And with no real regulations placed on them, home sharing sites have made tools like sex offender lists effectively obsolete; they have replaced neighbors with an ever-revolving door of strangers.
Over the last year alone, we have seen an ongoing stream of stories about illegal hidden cameras, drug trafficking, prostitution and violence in short-term rentals.
The Minneapolis Star-Tribune, for example, recently reported on an Airbnb guest who was charged with the attempted sexual assault of a 7-year-old living in the house the family rented.
It is clear that common-sense regulations on home sharing sites are needed.
Florida has shown ongoing leadership on child safety issues, from enacting legislation that served as the model for Jessica’s Law to ending the statute of limitations for civil and criminal prosecutions for sexually abusing children.
We look forward to working with Florida’s lawmakers, communities and parents to enact policy that protects the state’s neighborhoods and children.
Stacie Rumenap is president of Stop Child Predators, a national child safety advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C.