Parents urged to check sex offender registry before trick-or-treating
Published 9:31 am Wednesday, October 29, 2014
JENNINGS — Jeff Davis Parish Sheriff Ivy Woods is urging parents to check the sex offender registry before Halloween.
About 80 percent of all addresses have at least one sex offender within one mile, according to statistics from the Department of Justice and Watch Systems LLC.
Forty-five percent of sexual assault victims are under 12, and 75 percent of victims know their attacker. Over half of all sexual assaults occur within one mile of the victim’s home.
So before children trick-or-treat this Halloween, Woods wants parents to have real-time access to sex offenders in their area.
“We do our best to ensure sex offenders live where they tell us, but it is up to our citizens to utilize these online tools to see who the registered sex offenders are and where they are living,” Woods said in a news release.
Parents should go to the Louisiana Sheriffs’ Association — www.lsa.org — and click on the Public Resources, Sex Offender Tracking tab. Parents can quickly search for offenders in their area using the statewide database. Enter your home address to view a printable map of your neighborhood and any offenders in the surrounding area.
Woods encourages parents to register for the site’s free email alerts.
“You can enter your home, school, grandparents’ addresses to receive real-time email notifications any time an offender moves within one mile of any address you register,” Woods said.
“If you aren’t planning on trick-or-treating in your own neighborhood, but will be in a different neighborhood, register that address beforehand so you know which houses to avoid,” he said.
The alerts are in real-time and sent out via email as soon as an offender has registered with authorities.
There is no cost for the service and no limit to the number of addresses you can register. Your email address and physical addresses are all confidential.
With these resources available, Woods said parents can feel confident that they are armed with the tools to keep their children safe this Halloween.
For more information on the sex offender registry, contact Lauren Meher, LSA communications director, at 225-383-2871.
