Canton, Cherokee County, Ga. November 15, 2006 - Citizens of Cherokee County have a new online tool, to help them discover if and when registered sex offenders move into their neighborhoods. It is called Offender Watch.
The software system allows officers to maintain and track very detailed data about sex offenders registered in Cherokee County . Officers now have the ability to enter this data live whenever a sexual offender comes to the Sheriff’s Office to register. Once the data is changed the Sheriff’s Office website is automatically updated. From the Cherokee Sheriff's Office website the public can now browse the profiles of all sex offenders registered in Cherokee County ; with the added feature of viewing maps of areas where sex offenders may live.
“Not only is this a valuable tool for our investigators, but visitors to our website can now search for convicted offenders within one mile of any address, whether it's a home, a daycare center or school”, says Captain Lacey of the Sheriff’s Office. “Citizens can sign up for automatic email notifications. If a sex offender moves within one mile of any submitted address, the Sheriff's Office will send an automatic email notification alerting the registered citizen of the sex offender’s status”.
The Sheriff’s Office premier of Offender Watch took place at the Cherokee Night Out Against Crime held October 23rd at the First Baptist Church in Woodstock . Members of the Sheriff’s Office were on hand to receive requests from the public for instant email notifications and computers were set up with internet access allowing the public to sign up online.
Sheriff Garrison encourages the citizens of Cherokee County to take a moment and sign up for this exciting and positive program. Visitors may submit as many addresses as they would like. To get started, go to www.cherokeega-sheriff.org and click on the link to the “Georgia Sexual Offender Registry.” If you have any questions concerning this program, please contact Sergeant Jay Baker at 770-928-0239.