INC NEWS - sex offender databases

[RW Pickle]

Not all registery's are the same. The Familywatchdog site is an integrated
system that uses pay-per-click advertising to send visitors to any number
of partners wanting to sell you something. The "fear" I see the site
selling is child safety. These sites are fine, but because they do not
control the data they show you, it's hard to know if it is complete,
accurate, and correct. Below are 2 websites the State and Federal
government operate. I'd believe what I find in their databases and would
think they are the most current (because this registration process is a
government function and they keep the records).

I did some testing just to see how each one stacked up. I searched the zip
code on all of them (for me it was 27707). Here is what I found.

On the nsopr.gov site, I found 37 and the site worked very well.

On the Family Watchdog website, doing the same search, I had problems with
the website. When I did find out the same info, there were 153 (when I
asked for the list). It presents a Google map (first) with different
colored dots for various crimes; all relating to sex, but not specifically
to children. You then have to ask it for a list.

The NC SBI Sex Offender Registry said there were 38 when I looked at the
27707 zip code.

These other 2 government websites are listed below. Part of the problem
with any of this is that if someone moves and doesn't register, then there
is no way to know anything. A good example of this is the mass movement of
sex offenders from LA when Katrina caused  the evacuation. They were
spread all acoss the country and many of them have fallen off the maps
that know where they are. Unless someone is picked up by law enforcement
and they run a check on their past, this stuff would never surface. In
that case, your new nextdoor neighbor could be one and no one would know.

The National Sex Offender Database operated by the Department of Justice.
(click on the NOSPR HOME  link)

http://www.nsopr.gov/

The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation Sex Offender website:

http://ncregistry.ncsbi.gov/(S(mpdkrmveabk3zo5503nody45))/Default.aspx

They're all good tools, but it's hard to know how much of any of it is
right because things are always changing.

RWP
27 Beverly