John Walsh Applauds State of Florida and Family Watchdog Partnership

Florida becomes first State to team with Family Watchdog. The Nations number one Sex Offender Tracking Website.
Indianapolis; December 26, 2005 John Walsh, host of America’s Most Wanted, and a supporter of Family Watchdog issued a statement last week when he learned of the countries first partnership between the sex offender tracking and mapping website and the state of Florida. “I applaud Governor Bush and Attorney General Crist for taking this pro-active initiative to keep Florida the number one state in protecting Florida’s most valuable resource; its children. Family Watchdog will give all Floridians the ability to keep their communities safer. Everyone should have the right to know if a convicted sex offender is living in their neighborhood. I’m very honored that my home state is the first state in our nation to team up with Family Watchdog”.Attorney General Charlie Crist announced that Floridians can now utilize a new tool to help ensure the safety of their children and neighborhoods. Beginning today, (December 20, 2005) Floridians and citizens across America can link to the Family Watchdog website through the Attorney General’s site at http://MyFloridaLegal.com. Family Watchdog features a unique service that provides email notification when registered sexual predators move into a neighborhood. Florida becomes the first state to join forces with this child safety operation.The new site is part of the Amber Alert network and can be accessed directly at Familywatchdog.us. It provides free general information, detailed maps of neighborhoods, tips on keeping children safe, and an email notification when a registered sex offender moves into a particular neighborhood. Additional addresses can be added to the notification system for a small fee. Family Watchdog is supported by America’s Most Wanted host John Walsh and child safety advocate Julie Clark, who together formed The Safe Side, a group designed to further child protection efforts. “Nothing is more important than the protection of our children,” said Crist. “We are pleased to alert our citizens to this new tool that can help parents keep track of those who are prone to destroy lives. Sexual predators are likely to commit similar crimes again, so parents need to know when these individuals move into the neighborhood.”Family Watchdog can also serve as a bridge between the states in helping citizens know the locations of these offenders. While states such as Florida have a database of registered sexual predators, it is difficult to know when they move to another state. Predators can be tracked by name, no matter the state in which they are registered, and the Family Watchdog site enables parents to draw maps of registered addresses for sexual offenders and predators. “Family Watchdog is honored to provide our Internet-based sex offender mapping service to the State of Florida, and we welcome the opportunity to partner with Attorney General Crist and his staff to reduce the number of sexual assaults committed on Floridians. We believe strongly that the best way to combat sexual assault is through personal awareness. Identifying known perpetrators of these crimes within the community is an important first step in protecting those most at risk of sexual assault,“ said Steve Roddel of Family WatchdogAbout Family WatchdogFamily Watchdog was founded by Steve Roddel of Westfield, Indiana. In the six months since its launch, the website has grown into America’s number one site for the identification and mapping of convicted sexual offenders. The website; www.familywatchdog.us, consistently has more users than the next three sites combined. Over the last several weeks the website has undergone major changes to make it easier to navigate and offer the user more information, including a national ‘Amber Alert ‘ System, child safety tips, and holiday shopping safety. Family Watchdog, LLC donates the first 10% of all gross proceeds to the Sex Offender Reporting and Tracking Institute, S.O.R.T.I. a non-profit, tax exempt, 501c3 foundation.This partnership is another component of the Attorney General’s commitment to enhancing child safety. During 2005, several initiatives have been launched including a partnership with NetSmartz, an interactive resource for children and parents. Other initiatives include:In May, Crist and Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Guy Tunnell, in conjunction with Pitney-Bowes, announced an enhanced state website that makes it easier to keep track of sexual offenders and predators in Florida.The establishment of the Attorney General’s CyberCrime Unit in 2005. This unit targets child pornography, child predators and internet-based sexual exploitation of children, and produced the arrest of an accused child pornographer soon after it was established. A new publication titled “Safe Steps” was produced for the purpose of educating parents on ways to protect their young children and alert them to issues involving teenagers. The publication was produced in conjunction with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. A series of 25 one-hour courses called “Escape School,” covering child safety for both children and parents, was presented around the state.”Links to these child safety initiatives can be found on the Attorney General’s homepage at http://MyFloridaLegal.com and by clicking on “Child Safety.”The Attorney General also successfully fought for the constitutionality of the Florida Sexual Predators Act – Florida’s version of “Megan’s Law” – which is the act that requires sexual predators to register once they are released from prison. The Florida Supreme Court agreed with the arguments put forth by the Attorney General’s Office of the Solicitor General. The Supreme Court also agreed with the Attorney General’s argument that automatically placing a convicted offender’s name on a list of offenders is not unconstitutional.