This website http://www.familywatchdog.us is a great website to see all of the sex offenders that live near you. It is free. You just type in your home address, and it will print up a map of every registered sex offender near you. It is color coded to show different types of offenses. If you click on any of the colored dots, then it will bring up a picture of the sex offender, and it will tell you what they have been convicted of. Another nice feature is that you can click on any of the schools, and it will tell you how many offenders are within 1000 feet of the school and give each of their pictures and what they have been convicted of. It will also show tell you the number of sex offenders within 1/2 mile of the school. One thing that I encourage is to sign up for notices about when a sex offender moves into your area. We signed up for the free version which is updated weekly for a distance of one mile. They have a paid version ($18/year) that will contact you the day that the new sex offender moves anywhere 5 miles away from your home. When Melissa and I have kids, I will sign us up for the 5 mile version. Everyone, be safe! I am amazed at how many registered sex offenders are out there. It scares me to think about how many more are out there in the shadows. They can be teenagers to grandparents, and many of them look so friendly. Be safe!
3 comments:
It is a great website. We frequently use the state DPS website as well, although it doesn't do notification or as many color codes :) Our HOA notified us when one actually moved into our neighborhood and onto our street! YUCK! Thankfully it wasn't an offense that directly worries us about our kids but we are more careful anyway. And it is true that you can't tell... at their house they have a minivan and their other car has a lot of religious Christian bumper stickers. Also keep in mind that many many many sex offenders don't update their address like they should... so we should always be vigilant :) Thanks for the reminder.
Utah recently passed a law that requires sex offenders to renew their driver's license annually. Then while getting their new license, they update their address for the sex offender registry as well. This is in addition to requiring them to update their address immediately when moving. The program has really helped to help make sure that sex offenders keep their address current.
I'm so glad there are sites like this. We checked our neighborhood after Penny was born and I was sickened to find that there is a sex offender living not 1/2 a block from our apartment. Plus my local park I frequent is ringed by them. It's a thin line between being careful and being totally paranoid but I try and enjoy my neighborhood anyway.
Times is a'changin! But those pervs aren't going to cramp my style.
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