Halloween Safety Tips: App & Online Tools Help Search Sex Offender Registry
Do you know whose door you’re knocking on while trick-or-treating? Every home may not be safe: There are nearly 900,000 registered sex offenders in the United States, many convicted of crimes against minors. About 80 percent of homes in America have a registered sex offender living within one mile of their address.
Before trick-or-treating this season, sheriff’s offices and police departments advise parents to check their local sex offender registry. Covington-based OffenderWatch, the nation’s leader in sex offender registry management, shares these tips on reading and understanding sex offender registries.
OffenderWatch partners with law enforcement nationwide to provide technical solutions and a network for managing sex offender registries. With more than 3,500 law enforcement agencies using OffenderWatch, Americans conduct about 1.3 million searches on OffenderWatch sex offender registry maps per week. OffenderWatch also recently released a new app, called OffenderWatch Safe Virtual Neighborhood, that alerts parents if a registered sex offender contacts their child online.
“We want parents to have the information families need to have a safe Halloween, and to also understand that information,” said Mike Cormaci, president and co-founder of OffenderWatch. “We’ve partnered with law enforcement across the country for more than 20 years, helping to improve the sex offender registry and making it easier for both law enforcement and the public to use.”
Tips for Finding and Understanding Your Sex Offender Registry
- Use a sex offender registry published by law enforcement. Not all registries are created equal: There are many third-party websites that publish outdated sex offender data, claiming its accuracy. Parents and guardians should only trust data provided through local law enforcement.
**To find your local registry in Louisiana, visit http://www.icrimewatch.net/index.php?AgencyID=54450&disc=54663 **
- Use the map/geographical feature to find offenders in your area. While viewing your county or city’s sex offender registry, input your home address or the address where you’ll be trick-or-treating to view a map of offenders in that area. Print out the map with addresses to take with you.
- Understand the difference between offender risk level and tiers in your state. Every state identifies sex offenders differently, segmenting offenses with risk levels and tiers. Visit the Louisiana state police website to find a list of offenses, risk levels and descriptions.
- Talk to your children. If sex offenders live in your neighborhood, point out their house to your children and explain the offender has a criminal record. Tell your children to let you know if the sex offender tries to talk to them or lure them inside. Read more on how to talk to your children about sex offenders.
- Download OffenderWatch’s new mobile app, Safe Virtual Neighborhood. Safe Virtual Neighborhood is an app partnered with all Louisiana law enforcement agencies that monitors Snapchat activity, texts, emails, location and phone calls, sending an alert to a parent or guardian if a registered sex offender contacts the device, or if the device lingers near the address of a sex offender for an extended period. Signing up for the app will automatically deliver email alerts about sex offenders moving into your neighborhood. For more information on the app and how to sign up, go to www.offenderwatch.com/safe-virtual-neighborhood.
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