The Saline County Sheriff's Office Thursday announced a new Web site that notifies the public of the addresses of sex offenders in the county, according to a press release from Sheriff Keith Brown.
Called OffenderWatch, the site is part of a nationwide network of over 5,000 law enforcement agencies that includes over half of the Illinois county sheriff's offices and police departments.
The site was acitivated 3 p.m. Dec. 27.
"Updating and expanding the information contained within the OffenderWatch system will be an ongoing process. Both the amount of information and its accuracy will improve with time. The main objective here is to keep the public informed and safe. I believe this program is a step in the that direction," Brown said, in the prepared release.
The site enables the public to search for sex offenders and predators who may live in close proximity to their homes, places of work, schools, churches and day care centers. The site features a map of the county and markers indicating the residences of registered sex offenders.
The program also helps the sheriff's office to verify offender addresses do not violate any safety buffers around schools, day cares and parks and helps the office schedule compliance checks.
Parents can use the site to determine which houses to avoid while trick or treating.
The OffenderWatch registry may be accessed at http://www.sheriffalerts.com/il/saline and is a cooperative effort between Brown, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Watch systems.
