By the way, this wasn't random fear or voyeurism. I'm working on a story on sex offenders.
sex-map-1.jpg
According to this map from familywatchdog.us, lots of sex offenders work near the 13th Floor HQ. But is the info accurate?
It's not the most pleasant perusal one can engage in. But what went through my mind was, is this information accurate? Many people I've called have told me that registries often are riddled with inaccuracies and not updated frequently enough.
This is scary, considering that two men in Maine recently were killed after the alleged killer found their names on a sex offender registry.
It's bad enough the sex offenders were murdered. Imagine the furor if, say, some school teacher or doctor were killed for living at that particular address, if it had been incorrectly designated as the home of a sex offender. The Maine registry has been shut down temporarily.
But never mind the circumstances surrounding a rare, random, shooting. Those state registries supposedly are used by law enforcement to track and monitor sex offenders. They're supposed to help keep neighborhood children safe. It would help if they had the correct information and were updated frequently. Whether they should be as accessible to all, as they now are, is a question for another day.
