I got this from a place linked to from the Auto Insurance thread in IMHO.
I live out in the sticks, kids. I mean, WAY past the boonies. We measure population per square mile in the 10s, not the 1000s.
And yet I have four (4!!!) registered sex offenders in my zip code or contiguous zip codes!
Is it just me or what?
off to Wal-Mart for that shotgun
I don’t know if this will make you feel any better, but I happen to know one guy on that list. He is still to this day an “offender” because twelve years ago, when he turned eighteen, the parents of his sixteen year-old girlfriend reported him to the police. Statutory rape is his crime.
Now I have to mention that later, he robbed a store at gunpoint, kidnapped the manager on duty, stole her car and spent something like eight years in prison. A friend of mine used him as a case study for some abnormal psychology stuff he did back in college. I remember this friend saying that this dude fit the textbook profile of a sociopath so perfectly that his instructors were eager to meet the guy.
So, um, he’s not the kind of guy you want to have in your neighborhood, but he’s not really much of a sex offender.
Here in Rosslyn, I have sixteen convicted offenders in my zipcode and contiguous areas.
I am not one of them.
I believe you SK! No, really, I do!
But Christ on a crutch this is enough to make me stay up late. God knows what Mrs Chance will say.
One of my assistants at work had 37 (!!!) in her own and contiguous zip codes.
It’s not like I feel a need to ‘DO’ something about this, if you know what I mean, and I suppose it’s good to know.
But it still gives me the willies.
argh…that would creep me out…
That is a very scary website…
I have THIRTY (30) in my zip code or surrounding ones…
That’s freaking me out, now…
They showed this site on the local news some time ago and I checked it out then.
Anyway,
after doing a search…
There’s only “one” in my zip code.
However, there are 30 in the -contiguous- zip codes.
It does make you cringe a little - there are little kids that play around here. 
There are 62 just for the county I live in. Damn I guess being at college in a big city exposes me to the bad side of people. Although back in my hometown there are 13 so that isn’t saying much… this freaks me out living close to these people ya kno?
I guess I’m lucky that there are only 30 sex offenders in my area. I would have feared it was higher, but I guess the MS gang is more into the senseless violence kick.
Can Virginia sex offenders also register at Crate & Barrel and major department stores?
ACK! I have five sex offenders in my zip code, and one of them is on my street!!!
Sixteen in my Zip code, and fifty-two when you include contiguous zip codes!! :eek:
JC - I understand your concern, but you know of course, that your neighborhood is exactly the same as it was before you had this information.
These sites have varying degrees of reliability - wrong guy, wrong address wrong crime etc.
Child molesters, like anyone else, don’t simply stay at their house. So, even if your neighborhood had zero, that doesn’t mean that some one didn’t walk through, drive through, visit etc.
These web sites can in fact give some people a false sense of security (gee, there’s none in my neighborhood).
Your feelings demonstrate one of my reasons I’m not in favor of these things (‘what do I do now?’ kind of response).
OTOH. THere are things that every parent can do to minimize the risk of their child being molested. Keep in mind that many/most molestations are done by trusted people (family members, friends etc). here are things I’ve posted before about what I taught my son to make him a bad victim:
I taught him that he should NEVER keep a secret from me and if some one told him to do so, to hurry and tell me right away. I told him to never go anywhere unless I knew about it first. Not simply “dont’ go to that man’s house” or “get into cars with strangeres”. Molesters are very, very good at getting kids to comply with them (Here, I’ve got something to show you. Can you help me find my puppy? etc). Molestations can occur in closets, cars, open areas etc.
I taught him that if some one tried to physically grab at him, he should scream bloody hell. I’ve taught him to tell me immediately if ANYONE ever wants to take his picture, give him a present, have him go somewhere, play “special” games.
Avoid using the terms “grown up” or “stranger”. Molesters can often be neither.
And, to keep the focus on how little usable info those web sites can really give:
Just take a moment to think about how FEW people you meet on a daily basis for whom you have an address. Megan’s Laws may give you some semi current, correct information about past history of some of the people whose address you know. It will give you zero information on the person who’s delivering pizzas to your neighbor, the cousin visiting the folks across the street, the man walking his dog, the customer in line behind you, the person sitting next to you in the movie theater, the other parent visiting their child at school.
Bottom line - to best protect your child, make them a bad victim. You should sleep better knowing you’ve done what you can to minimize the risk to your child.