In Cleveland, authorities dig through the home of a convicted sex offender, searching for bodies. In California, authorities rescue a girl imprisoned by a sex offender for 18 years.
In Hinds County, the sheriff's department is working to make sure that doesn't happen. They have an investigator whose sole job is to keep track of convicted sex offenders in the area. According to investigators, there are about 400 registered sex offenders in Hinds County - the most in the state. Fewer than one percent are non-compliant compared to the national average, which is 24 percent.
"I guess you could call me the sex offender wrangler," said Investigator Keith Burton, whose official title is Sex Offender Registrar. He's tasked with keeping track of people convicted of sex crimes, especially whose who fail to register.
"It's not my job to punish them," he said. "It's my job to control them or to know where they are."
Sex offenders are required by law to register with the Department of Public Safety every 90 days. If they don't, they become non-compliant and the sheriff's department could issue a warrant for their arrest.
"It's a federal law mandated by our congressman and president....It's our job and we're gonna do it," said Captain Henry Glaze, who oversees the Sex Crimes Unit in Hinds County. "Most of them understand that and comply."
By law, sex offenders cannot live within 1,500 ft. of a school or daycare center.
Mississippi's Attorney General's Office and the U.S. Marshals are also involved in tracking sex offenders as part of "Operation Angel Shield." The goal is to find and verify the addresses of registered sex offenders within a nine county area in Central Mississippi. Task force officers have already checked out the addresses of 637 sex offenders and found 52 were not in compliance.
http://innocentjustice.org/
http://www.familywatchdog.us/
http://www.sor.mdps.state.ms.us/sorpublic/hpsor_search.aspx
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