Checking map of sex offenders near you

Do you ever check the map of registered sex offenders living near your home, school, or office?  It is something that my neighbors and I kept an eye on when living in my old neighborhood.  The registered offender map shows where they live and when you click on a listing, you could see a photo and what their crime was.  I can’t remember how I first learned that this was available online, but when I did, I checked out numerous areas that might affect my son such as our home, his school, and his father’s home.  There was never anyone living in my actual neighborhood, but a few miles from my home was a mobile home park and there were two men living there that were registered to the same home.  I figured it was some sort of halfway house or something.  I just wanted to familiarize myself with their faces when my son was little.  I also needed to check the route that he walked home from school when he was old enough to walk home.  Fortunately there was never anyone on the streets he used.

I was watching a show this morning when they mentioned a registered offender they were looking into as a possible offender for the crime they were working on.  I hadn’t looked to see how close my new house was to anyone on the registered list.  I was extremely surprised and relieved to see there are only two offenders in the entire city.  One is in a medical facility and the other in a mobile home park on the edge of the city.  It had been years since I checked my old house so I did a quick search for that area too.  There are 35 offenders listed in the area near my old home!  And that was just the area of the map showing on my screen, not the entire city.  I am positive there was nowhere near that number when I last checked that map.  And it is a fairly expensive area with most of the homes listing for over a million dollars.  I am guessing these men must be either renting a room or living with a family member.  Not that an offender can’t afford a million dollar home, but it seems less likely. When I zoomed in, I noted that some of the listings were in a mobile home park and at least two were in an apartment complex.

Now I know that some of the people on the list are required to register due to what I would consider a benign crime such as urinating in public.  The California list no longer contained a picture of the person and instead of listing their crime, it listed how dangerous the offender was considered to be such as high risk, below average risk, etc.  The Oregon list had a link to their offender page which showed their photo and listed the crime, but only in general terms such as rape 1, Fel.

Have you ever checked out your community?  Did any offenders live close enough to cause you concern?