Look on the Web can pinpoint sex offenders in LR

Mayor describes software system as 'citizen friendly'

— Little Rock city and police officials unveiled a localized sex-offender search on the city's Web site Monday just in time to help parents make sure their children remain safe on Halloween.

Mayor Mark Stodola promised the search on www.lrpolice.org (or through the city's Web site at www.littlerock.org) would be "citizen friendly and easy to use."

"You never know how many crimes you can prevent, so it's very, very important you have programs like this in place," he said.

Little Rock has 360 sex offenders registered within city limits, said Lt. Terry Hastings, police spokesman.

Allowing residents to enter an address and see a map and a listing of offenders withina one-mile radius, the OffenderWatch software, which cost $7,500, was installed by Watch Systems, a Covington, La., company that has set up similar programs in 300 police departments in 27 states. Garland and Washington counties in Arkansas have contracted to set up localized searches.

Sex-offender registries and the search options often available to the public have come under greater scrutiny lately.

Last month Maine's Supreme Court ruled that the state's registry should be applied selectively through a criminal sentence, not universally through civil law.

In Arkansas sex offenders areassigned a level between one and four on the basis of their likelihood to commit another crime. Level 1 offenders, who present the lowest risk, won't be on the site, but all other offenders, including the most dangerous Level 4, will be listed.

The site will be constantly updated, said Sgt. Vicky Keathley.

Users can sign up for e-mail alerts when sexual predators move into their neighborhoods. The Police Department will also mail postcard-size notifications informing residents of where the offender lives.

Stodola said he doesn't worry about public backlash against offenders.

"If that were to happen, and I hope it doesn't, then I would hope the police would step in," he said.

The state already has a sexoffender search available on the Arkansas Crime Information Center's Web site, but that software doesn't have mapping capabilities, said Paula Stitz, manager of the sex-offender registry. The state site lists only Level 3 and Level 4 offenders.

The city's site will be localized so that only Little Rock offenders will show up during a search, Hastings said.

No specific incident prompted the city to contract with Watch Systems, he said.

"We've been working on it for a while, but we wanted to roll it out before Halloween," he said, explaining that the site can help parents choose a safe area for the children to go trick-or-treating.

Stodola said it was a "big issue" for the city to have the search engine available before Halloween and it would help improve safety for the city's children throughout the year.

Front Section, Pages 1, 2 on 10/30/2007

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