Orem company maps sex offenders

Thursday, July 14, 2005 - 12:00 AM

By Michael Rigert DAILY HERALD

Utahns have a new Internet tool to know if and where convicted sexual predators live in their neighborhood.
MapSexOffenders.com is a free service created by a family-owned Orem Web development company that lets users access state information on registered sex offenders in a map-oriented format.
While the state already has a sex offender registry online that lists addresses, MapSexOffenders.com goes one better by creating a map of neighborhoods and showing where offenders live.
Jack Ford, spokesman for the Utah Department of Corrections, said it's good anytime the public can be better informed.
"In the past I've looked (at the official registry), but you never related the addresses to where you live," he said.
Mark Olsen, Orbizon Inc.'s account manager, said people can just click on the city of their choice followed by additional clicks to zoom in on a particular neighborhood or street. On the maps, the locations of sex offenders are represented by red balloon-like icons.
"This makes it just a click away from finding out anyone in your neighborhood you should be aware of," he said.
Click on a single red balloon and you'll get a photo and name of the convict. A click on the individual's last name instantly links you to the state's Web site where more specific information on the person is available.
Olsen said recent gains in Internet mapping technology have made it possible to combine information from databases with Internet-based maps, which until now have been mostly used for driving directions.
"The mapping makes it easy to use," he said. "I've mapped my own neighborhood."
While MapSexOffenders.com information is currently confined to Utah, Olsen said the company has compiled the sex offender data for all 50 states. He said the site will gradually expand over the next month or two to include the entire country.
Three months in the making, Olsen said MapSexOffenders.com is also ideal for people looking at buying a home or moving.
"You can check out the neighborhood before instead of after," he said.
To his knowledge, Olsen said, MapSexOffenders.com, which will be updated monthly if not weekly, is the only such Web site that will give people the ability to search nationwide using maps.
One potential concern of mapping where sex offenders live is that neighbors may somehow target individuals who show up on the site.
However, Provo police Capt. Rick Healey said it's state law that convicted sex offenders' information is public.
Healey said he hasn't encountered in his career an instance of residents actively harassing a sex offender.
"Not that they don't get uncomfortable, but I've never seen tires getting slashed or anything," he said.
Susan White, the Springville mother of a child sex abuse survivor and an advocate of tougher penalties for sex offenders, called sites like Olsen's "a huge step in the right direction."
Whether it's concerned parents or those looking to open up a school or day care, Internet resources like MapSexOffenders.com are helpful on multiple levels.
"The biggest thing is awareness," she said. "Knowing who your neighbors are, who the piano teacher is, and who the Scout leader is."
Olsen said while Orbizon may place advertisements on the site in the future, that's not the driving force behind its creation.
"This site isn't to make money," he said. "The intent is to have an easy-to-use sex offender map resource. . . . We're a business, but we're doing this because of its importance."
Comments or questions about MapSexOffenders.com can be e-mailed to info@mapsexoffenders.com. This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page A1.