Offender Tracking
My husband and I purchased a house several years ago. We had looked at quite a few houses and would have loved to have put offers in on others, but after doing some research, decided that it just wasnt worth the worries. What research did we do? We did some basic sex offender tracking. Our daughter was getting to the age in which she would be wanting to play outside in the neighborhoods. We wouldnt always be able to keep her confined to our yard, so we wanted to ensure as much safety for her as possible. Thanks to Megans Law, it is easy to do your own research and offender tracking. All of your local offenders can be found online. Each state has their own websites that will provide as much information as they can, including photos, of the sex offenders. You can see how close they live or work to your residence. Some of the houses we rejected were because through our offender tracking research, we found some sex offenders living in those neighborhoods. I was not at all comfortable with that and was not
about to take the chance.
Sure, people will argue with me and say that offender tracking isnt quite fair. Whether it is or is not fair isnt the argument. The facts are that people want to feel and be safe. When you can utilize the local offender tracking, you can get an idea of who may be driving down your street or where you dont want to let your children go trick-or-treating for Halloween. There is a level of comfort that is provided in offender tracking. Registered offenders shouldnt simply be released back into society without the public knowing about them and what crime was committed. The media has splashed tragic stories all over the news about innocent children being taken and killed by registered sex offenders. Had the public been more aware of that persons location and history, perhaps the crimes could have been prevented. Perhaps not.
It amazes me that people dont understand why we utilized our states offender tracking system in choosing where wed like to live. We want our daughter to grow up in as safe of a neighborhood as possible. Granted, there are people always on the prowl, they just havent been exposed or gotten caught yet. However, we can certainly be more aware of the people found in the offender tracking system that have committed a heinous crime. Afterall, the best defense is to be informed. And I encourage anyone, whether you have children or not, to take some time to look up your offender tracking system. Become more educated about the people who may be in your community. It doesnt mean that you have to memorize their photos and walk around studying everyones faces. It simply means that youre more informed.
