Law enforcement has always been about information management. Community policing emphasizes information sharing between law enforcement agencies and community residents. Internet mapping applications developed by police and sheriff’s departments have made up-to-date information on burglaries, thefts, and other crimes readily accessible to the public.
Recently, many jurisdictions have implemented GIS-based Web sites in response to a 1996 law that authorized state and local law enforcement agencies to notify residents of the presence of registered sex offenders in their neighborhoods.
Know as Megan’s Law, H.R. 2137 amended the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act of 1994, which requires states to register individuals convicted of sex crimes against children. Megan’s Law provides public access to information on sexually violent offenses and offenders while protecting the confidentiality of victims.
Megan’s Law was named in honor of Megan Kanka, a seven-old New Jersey girl who was raped and murdered by a twice-convicted sex offender who lived in her neighborhood. While not intended to punish offenders, the law authorizes local law enforcement to notify the public about high-risk and serious sex offenders who reside in, are employed in, or frequent the community. The law prohibits using this information to harass or commit any crime against an offender.
Many jurisdictions have opted to provide notification through GIS-enabled Web sites. The information available from each site depends on the specific implementation of Megan’s Law that was adopted in that state. Some sites include subject descriptions and photographs of offenders considered at high risk for recidivism while others supply approximate locations of offenders and require residents to visit a law enforcement agency office to view more specific information.
The Sheriff’s Department in Riverside County is one of the jurisdictions in California that has implemented a Megan’s Law Web site. The site was developed jointly by the Sheriff’s Department, the County of Riverside Transportation and Land Management Agency (TLMA), and NACo partner ESRI.
On the GIS-enabled site, users access data provided by the U.S. Department of Justice and State of California Department of Justice that can show the presence of sex offenders in specific neighborhoods, school zones and residential areas near parks and public facilities. If offenders are found in the search area, their approximate locations are displayed on a map. Orange flags indicate serious offenders. Red flags denote those considered at high risk for re-offending.
With this information, concerned citizens make an appointment to visit a Riverside County Sheriff’s Department or contract city station to view the sex offender database. The database provides information that includes offender’s name, a basic physical description, ZIP Code, and photograph. As stipulated under California law, no street name or specific location information (other than a ZIP Code) is supplied.
During its first three weeks in operation, the site drew more than five million visitors. “It should be available to everyone in the county. It’s an important issue. The public needs to know where these people are. We know from past history that a lot of these people are repeat offenders,” said Riverside County Sheriff-elect Bob Doyle.
(For more information, please contact Lt. Steve Hill, Riverside Sheriff’s Department, at shill@rc-lawnet.org; Bill Mumbleau, Riverside County Transportation and Land Management Agency, at wmumblea@co.riverside.ca.us; or Craig Morgan, ESRI Implementation Services, at cmorgan@esri.com.)
