Interview #11 – Senator Cropsey
Saturday, 20. August 2005 - 11:58 am
Senator Cropsey – Senate sponsor of the Michigan background checks legislation
Why do we need legislation for background checks on online dating sites?
As
chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee I'm always concerned about
people being victimized by criminals, especially women and children are
being violated by rapists and pedophiles. The United States
Department of Justice reports that sexual assaults are the most
under-reported crime in our nation. When vulnerable women and
children are violated, the state prosecutes the sexual predator.
The best situation is for women and children not to be victimized in
the first place. At the very least online dating companies need
to let their clientele know the risks that they face. If an
online dating company is doing background checks, the company should
state the limitations of the background checks. If the online
dating company refuses to do a background check, then the company
should clearly warn their clientele of the risks that they face.
If more people become better informed and take proper precautions, then
fewer women and children are victimized.
Rape is a terrible
crime. A lady contacted my office who was raped 8 years ago. Just
a few months ago she realized while she was sitting on her patio that
she hadn't thought about the rape for 15 minutes…and that was a
tremendous victory. Rape is a life sentence for the victim.
What is the likelihood of success for the legislation?
Legislation
will eventually pass. Once the first state passes legislation
several other states will follow. It's just a matter of
time. In this case more victims are coming forward and saying
that more protection is needed. One of the things the online
dating companies cannot afford to happen is for them to appear that
they are not doing all they can to protect women and children. My
offer to online dating companies is, come sit down and help write
legislation that gives additional safety to your clientele.
What are the next steps for the legislation?
This
summer we are working on this issue to see if we can reach an agreement
with the online dating companies on background check notices that would
help to protect and educate their clients.
How can online dating companies help?
Online
dating companies need to help find a solution and thereby reduce
victimization, to let us know their ideas and work with us. At
the very least they can send me an email with their ideas.
Eventually the online dating companies can get together with me in
Lansing to help craft this legislation. We need law enforcement,
victims, and online dating companies to sit down and figure out how to
address this issue. You can expect this to happen within the next
couple of months.
It would be helpful if the online
dating companies had a leadership team that can speak for their
industry. It is impractical to have 50 online dating services
show up and want to sit down with the victims and law enforcement
organizations. Virtually every other organization realizes the
benefit of having a representative group; such as doctors, lawyers,
insurance agencies. Most groups realize they need someone to
speak for them for the benefit of their industries.
At
this point, legislation is in the conceptual stage. The online
dating companies can have a maximum impact at this early stage to shape
the legislation. When the online dating companies understand the
concerns of the legislature, they can work to meet that concern.
Do not wait for a bad incident to happen and have the legislature
stampede a law through that does not take everything into
consideration. Online dating companies need someone who has the
authority to speak for the industry.
Are there other areas that you are thinking of applying such legislation?
Whenever
the government sees a significant problem it will try to remedy that
problem through law. This is not the first time that an internet
business would be subject to government regulation. Michigan had
spam legislation signed a year ago. Background checks are being
performed in other areas of life, such as in public schools and daycare
centers.
What happened with the Michigan legislation this time around?
The
only holdup is that it didn't get past the state senate. I was
initially responsible for delaying the legislation. My position
has changed. I now believe that legislation is needed.
The House of Representatives has already overwhelmingly passed
legislation. If legislation passes the senate, it will pass the
house.
A year ago I did not see a need for legislation until a bad
incident happened near my district. A stalker killed himself as
he was planting explosives in a woman's house that he met online.
This was an epiphany for me. It made me realize that there is
danger here. That the legislature needs to address the issue;
what are we doing to protect vulnerable women and children from sexual
predators that are using the internet?
What did you think of the mobile internet dating convention?
The
meeting we had was very productive. I learned a lot from the
discussion and thoroughly enjoyed the forum. I want to thank
iDate for inviting me.
Mark Brooks:
The Michigan legislation passed the Michigan House by a 74-14 margin in
the last legislative session. The bill made it to the Senate at
the end of the session where Cropsey held the bill up (as Chairman of
the Criminal Justice Committee) and the session came to a close.
At the start of this session, Cropsey decided to champion the
bill. The bill passed out of his committee, but the full Senate
wanted the Sex Offender language (a change so significant, it had to go
back to Committee before full Senate consideration).