The U.S. Virgin Islands now has another year to come into compliance with the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), thanks to an extension granted by the federal government to all U.S. states and territories.

Several states and territories had already filed for extensions to the July 2010 deadline, prompting the federal government to push back the deadline by one year. Any state or territory who does not comply with SORNA, passed in 2006 calling for “substantial compliance” with federal law, could stand to lose 10 to 15 percent of Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program funds.

The Virgin Islands Department of Justice — just one of the many players in the process of rewriting the territory’s sex offender laws — is optimistic that the V.I. will comply with SORNA by the new July 2011 deadline.

“We are examining every single thing with a fine-toothed comb,” said V.I. DOJ spokesperson Sara Lezama. “It gets down to the really nitty gritty stuff. We’d rather be very thorough and diligent and have it take a lengthy period of time than rush it and not have a comprehensive law.”

Some of the countless issues faced by those rewriting the law include whether to require a sex offender who own a timeshare in the territory to register in the V.I., and how to handle situations like a father taking his 17-year-old son to a strip club to celebrate his high school graduation — a crime which could result in a charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor with a sexual connotation, requiring the father to register as a sex offender.

“We don’t want to leave any loopholes open,” said Lezama. “It does take a very long time. We have several other agencies involved in order to have a really comprehensive perspective while writing the law.”

The V.I. Police Department is once again targeting impaired drivers on St. Croix, St. Thomas and St. John during the National Enforcement Crackdown on Impaired Driving Campaign.

VIPD Commissioner Novelle Francis announced the campaign which began Friday, August 20, and ends Labor Day Monday, September 6. This campaign is a collaborative effort between the VIPD, Office of Highway Safety and other law enforcement agencies throughout the United States.

The goal of this campaign is to save lives by preventing traffic fatalities and impaired driving, explained Francis.

“Our message to motorists is simple and unwavering — if you get caught driving while impaired, you will be arrested,” he said. “No exceptions.”

Last fiscal year officers made 121 impaired driving arrests as of July 2010, and will be conducting more arrests in support of the national crackdown. Sadly, two traffic fatalities were recorded in the territory for the year.