Service makes it easy to track sex offenders
December 18, 2013
The Idaho State Police Bureau of Criminal Identification has added a new email subscription service that will allow notification to the public if a sex offender listed on the Idaho Sex Offender Registry changes residences.

Members of the public wishing to be notified when any registrant moves inside of or out of a given radius surrounding a particular address in the state of Idaho, can simply register to be notified on the Idaho Sex Offender Registry website.

The site will ask for the address of interest, the email address where the notifications are to be sent and the radius between 1, 3 or 5 miles from the street address desired for the notification. The link to subscribe to the service is located on the Idaho State Police website at http://isp.idaho.gov/sor_id/jsp/track_address.jsp.

Additionally, if a person is interested in being notified when a particular registrant moves, there is a link provided under the picture on each registrant's page that says, "Track Registrant." When the user clicks on the link the user will be asked to provide the email address where notifications should be sent.

The enhancements are in addition to the multiple search capabilities that the site already provides. Registrants can be searched by name, city, county or zip code. The mapping search allows for an address to be provided and all the registrants within a one, three or five mile radius of the address will be shown as balloons on the map. When the curser is moved over the balloon, the registrants' information is shown.

The Bureau of Criminal Identification has been responsible for Idaho's sex offender registration since it began operation on July 1, 1993.

The Idaho Legislature expanded the public's right to access the information on the registry in 1998 with the passage of the "Sexual Offenders Registration Notification and Community Right-to-Know Act."

The upgrade to the system for email notifications was made possible with funding from federal grants.

Users of the information in the Idaho Sex Offender Registry are reminded the information is provided only for the purpose of protecting the public. It is not to be used for the purpose of harassing or intimidating anyone. A person who uses registry information to commit a criminal act against another person is subject to arrest and prosecution under sections 18-8326 or 18-8413, Idaho Code.