Knowing whether registered sex offenders live nearby is important to many people, and a free online and mobile service is a handy tool for keeping tabs on sex offenders in the area.
    The Bulloch County Sheriff’s Office website, bullochsheriff.com, has a link to a listing of local sex offenders, but the AlertID Inc.,  online and mobile service, including a smartphone application, provides alerts from state sex offender databases  to 166 million people, or more than half (53 percent) of the US population.
    “I think this is a pretty good thing,” said Bulloch County Sheriff’s Capt. Todd Hutchens, the chief investigator for the department and who handles the county’s sex offender registry. “I’ve looked into it, and it’s pretty accurate.”
    AlertID service is now available in Georgia, North Carolina and Oklahoma – states which recently joined Florida, Illinois, California, Texas, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Nevada, Idaho and Arizona in using the service, said Keli Wilson, the founder of AlertID.
    “According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children … as of Nov. 4, 2011, there were more than 745,000 registered sex offenders in the United States,” she said. “States are required by the Adam Walsh Protection and Safety Act of 2006 to provide public access to their sex offender databases, but are not required to notify residents if an offender’s information, such as his or her address, changes.”
    With AlertID, members can view a map showing where registered offenders are in their neighborhoods. If an offender moves into their neighborhood or near their school, AlertID will automatically send an alert.  
    “We are committed to providing universal access to (sex offender database) information and alerts, because it helps families protect their children,” said Ken Wiles, AlertID’s CEO. “This information helps families make informed decisions about the security of areas in which their children live, play and go to school.”
    Hutchens said a good feature with AlertID is that “you can see the whole United States. It’s a great website.”
    Changes in local sex offenders’ information may take up to 72 hours to be recorded on the sheriff’s office website, and while information from AlertID might not include specific street addresses, the information can be cross-referenced with the sheriff’s office website to obtain the most recently updated information.
    “Any public access to the sex offender registry in your neighborhood is very helpful,” Hutchens said.
    The Bulloch County Sheriff’s Office plans improvements to the department’s website within the next month that will improve public access to information, including that of sex offenders, he said.
    For more information on AlertID services, go to www.AlertID.com.
   
    Holli Deal Bragg may be reached at 912-489-9414.