CALIFORNIA — Parents for Megan”s Law and the Crime Victims” Center will expand the Sex Offender Registration Tips program to include communities in California, the groups announced Monday.
The agency provides parents and community members in California with a helpline and a Web site to report registered sex offenders who may not be complying with registration requirements, employment restrictions, conditions of probation or parole or who are in positions of trust where they can access potential victims. The helpline is 1-888-ASK-PFML and the Web site is www.parentsformeganslaw.org.
Retired law enforcement professionals sort through the tips. They forward viable leads and documentation to appropriate local, state or federal law enforcement or criminal justice agencies for follow-up action.
Tips from the program resulted in the identification of out-of-compliance registered sex offenders and information that helped criminal investigations.
The program also collaborates with Facebook and MySpace to remove registrants from their social networking sites.
“Because of SORT Tips, actions have been taken to mitigate potentially dangerous situations, such as: sending a registered sex offender back to prison after he was identified as residing in a state registered child day care center where he could access children; and preventing a convicted former middle school teacher required to register as a sex offender from gaining employment as an in-home children”s tutor for a reputable tutoring company,” Parents for Megan”s Law reported.
The U.S. Justice Department funds the program.
