New Website Locates Sex-Offenders in Your Neighborhood

( Air Date: 8/8/2005 )
A new website gives the exact satellite image of registered sex offenders, and you may be surprised to find out that these convicts are closer than you think.For some time now, the Texas Department of Public Safety has posted the addresses and pictures of these known convicts on its website.But with a new family-owned webpage recently hitting the internet, finding out your proximity to one of these offenders has never been easier.With just a click, anyone can confirm the location of a registered sexual offenderIt`s called http://www.mapsexoffenders.com/A free-site that uses satellite images to map the locations of known sex offenders.Currently, there are 36 states in the site`s search engine, Texas included.Here`s out it works:Type in your address. Immediately, a map will appear.The blue marker is your location, the red spots are addresses of nearby sex offenders.Click on the red dot, see the name and picture of the offender. Click on that, and you`ll automatically be linked to the state`s site with all the information required by federal law.In statements to the media, the site`s spokesperson, Mark Olsen, said:“We`re doing it as a public service because people want to feel safe and want to know about their own community. People have the right to know of sex predators living near their families."Donations are accepted, but Olsen says the company will not make a profit, the intent is simply to cover the costs of operating the webpage.The website says it updates its information as often as the state does.On a side note, http://www.mapsexoffenders.com/ says the accuracy of the information falls to the state, as that is who they obtain all of their facts from.