CBS 2 Investigates: New Sex Offender Database
Oct 9, 2006 5:02 pm US/Eastern

Color-Coded Online Site Let's You See Who Lives Where

Scott WeinbergerReporting
(CBS) NEW YORK With a click of the mouse, Candice Lombardi learned just how many sex offenders were living or working in her neighborhood."Nine hundred seventy offenders is a lot higher than I would have thought," Lombardi said."It gives you the persons picture, that's really scary, Second Avenue, that's where I live."Lombardi is the mother of a two-and-a-half-year-old daughter. She's looking at a brand new Web site -- www.familywatchdog.us. Here's how it works: just plug in your address and the site provides a map of your area. Color coded boxes show the address where registered sex offenders live or work and even details of their offenses. "This is a good piece of information. It's great to know that someone created a place where you can go and actually see who's in your neighborhood," said Lombardi.The closest two offenders to her home are a man who lives a few blocks south, convicted of sexually assaulting a 27-year-old woman, and another living nearby who's been convicted of attempted sodomy of a 13-year-old boy. Several months ago, a series of CBS 2 investigations revealed that 59 registered sex offenders were living in a cluster of boarding homes in one small Suffolk County neighborhood in Coram. After our stories were broadcast, state legislation was introduced to prevent this type of sex offender saturation in a single neighborhood. There is no cost to access the information on the Family Watchdog Web site, which draws all of it's information from sex offender registries in each state and combines that information with mapping software.
(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

Watchdogs On the Lookout For Sexual Predators

By Charles Hack
10/05/2006

Any concerned parent who plugs their zip code into a sex-offender watchdog website will see a map that makes Brooklyn look like it is sick with measles. That’s because the map is scattered with hundreds of multicolored dots. Each spot marks the home or place of work of yet another sexual predator. Commanding Officer Deputy Inspector William Aubry of the 68th Precinct gave out the address, www.familywatchdog.us, at the Community Education Council 20’s September meeting at I.S. 259 McKinley at 7301 Ft. Hamilton Pkwy. The site contains a database of registered sexual offenders, including those convicted of rape and sexual battery. Parents can provide their email and zip code to receive notifications of any sex offenders moving into the neighborhood.But Aubry said that his precinct has been safer for school kids, after cops took a suspected pedophile off the streets for allegedly trying to abduct children in the Borough Park area. The police put out a dragnet after multiple reports of attempted abductions. The increased surveillance led to the arrest of other dubious characters, “because on a daily, weekly and monthly basis there are people who approach kids,” Aubrey said. The prime suspect was arrested near Fort Hamilton High School after approaching girls attending summer school, the police said. A potential victim provided the police with a good description of the suspect’s van, Aubry said. “We took it seriously and we followed up on it,” said Aubry. No attempted abductions have been reported since the fall semester started three weeks ago, Aubry said.

“We believe that the person responsible has now been arrested,” Aubry said. Because of the state’s bureaucracy, the Web site may flag sex offenders convicted out of state — who move into the precinct — even before the police know about it, Aubry said. “The Internet site makes it a lot easier,” Aubry said. The commanding officer urged the public to call 911 as soon as possible after any incident. Parents can also visit the state Division of Criminal Justice Services’ Web site at www.criminaljustice.state.ny.us, which provides an official database of registered sex offenders. In other business, the Community Education Council voted on a resolution to support the United Federation of Teachers’ call to the city’s education chancellor to reduce class sizes and make schools safer. “Thirty five kids — that’s too many kids in a class,” said Ellen Driesen, District 20 United Federation of Teachers representative. “But in the suburbs where classrooms have 20 kids, the kids do very, very well.” Driesen also said that schools need to be made safer. “Schools are a sanctuary,” said Driesen. “It is not permissible to have a child disrupt the class. It is dangerous. It is not the place for it.” A copy of the resolution will now be sent to Joel Klein, chancellor of the city Department of Education. Those interested in how the Campaign for Fiscal Equity case is progressing after 13 years, heard that it will finally reach the highest court in the state. Oral arguments are scheduled to be heard by the New York State Court of Appeals on Oct. 10. at 2 p.m. in Albany, announced April Humphrey, New York City coordinator, for the Campaign for Fiscal Equity. The campaign organizers will be chartering buses to take protestors to a rally supporting New York City teachers before the hearing. “Overcrowding is one of the most serious issues facing schools system-wide,” “There are too many kids in the class. There are too many kids in all of the schools.” The law suit was filed in 1993 by public school parents, arguing that there were large disparities between resources allocated to city and suburban schools. Humphrey said that since then, a full half of the kids in New York City failed to graduate after four years at high school. “The same conditions that were there 13 years ago when the lawsuit was filed still exist in our schools today,” said Humphrey. “The system has failed them.” The lower court awarded $5.6 billion in operating budget and $9.2 billion in capital funding, Humphrey said. The Court of Appeals is expected to decide how much money is appropriate to compensate the city, Humphrey said. For more information about the CFE and the rally call Jessica Garcia at (212) 867-8455. Chancellor Joe Klein is scheduled to appear at P.S. 200, at 1940 Benson Ave. on Oct. 17 at the next CEC 20 meeting. Call (718) 759-3921 for more information.
©Courier-Life Publications 2006

Forget Neverland! Moms Beware of Congress!

Erin Kotecki Vest
09.29.2006

If my Mom-senses are correct, the resignation of Congressman Mark Foley (R-FL) means I can add Congressman to the ever-growing list of suspicious individuals.
Just to review: I can't take my kids to any church, school, the ride to or from school, after-school activities, a hospital, therapy, and now...Capitol Hill.
If you are brave enough to Google "accused of molestation" you will find over a million pages of links. If you are brave enough to track sex-offenders in your area, you'll find them living down the block, near the grocery store, or next to your babysitter's house.
While no one is accusing the former Congressman of touching anyone inappropriately, he's now got parents of America thinking twice about letting their teen help Rock the Vote this November. While we may never know what the Congressman actually wrote, you can bet any 16-year-old using their Instant Messenger to contact a public official will get a "Hey Johnny, let Mommy see that IM" instead of "Isn't our Johnny great! He's getting involved in politics so young!"
Once again it's the kids and parents getting screwed. Once again my job gets harder. Once again the country is "shocked" and "disappointed" in a public figure. The story is getting really old. Maybe at the next PTA meeting we should discuss all those in our community who are NOT accused of something inappropriate with a child, instead of those who are.
According to FamilyWatchdog, one in FIVE children has been sexually propositioned on the Internet and 90-percent of all sexual assaults are committed by someone the child KNOWS. They are teachers, priests, pastors, coaches, troop leaders, hospital workers, bus drivers, and celebrities. These days danger for our children can come in ANY packaging, even the country's "moral" Republican Congressmen.
So as I make a mental note that "Congressman" and "Priest" now share the same list, I'll also make a note to keep this in mind come election time, and the next PTA meeting, and at the little league game, and on the bus, and...

Neighbors connect with neighbors

By Patrick Cronin
pcronin@seacoastonline.com

Diane Gordon said it's getting harder and harder to stay connected with her neighbors.

But the Hampton resident is hoping to change all that by getting them to sign up and use NeighborsConnecting.com.

Gordon said the site is the brainchild of former Hampton residents Frank and Michelle Condon. It was developed to keep neighbors connected in the 21st century.

There are already 1,400 neighborhoods using the free site, representing 48 states. In Hampton, there are 14 neighborhoods signed up.

"The most important things to people are their home, their neighbors, their city and then the rest of world," Frank Condon said. "We want to give them the tools so they can stay connected."

Condon said the site allows members of any community to keep in touch with one another through the use of calendars, a message board, live chatting, e-mail and document sharing.

The site is also partnered with familywatchdog.us, which allows access to a list of registered sex offenders living within a community.

Condon said the couple got the idea for the site when they worked on a Web site for their local church.

"We developed a Web site called www.ministrymanager.com to help churches bring their members together by using the power of the Web," Condon said.

It wasn't until the couple moved to South Carolina that they got the idea to use the same concept for neighborhoods.

"I live in a neighborhood with 400 homes," Condon said. "There is no way for me to really know what is going on unless there is a newsletter going around. This site is that newsletter."

Condon said the site is so successful that they are working on another site to be released next month called LinkingCommunities.com.

"What makes this different is that outside modulars have been created for the school, law enforcement, and local government," Condon said. "For example, if the police department wanted to issue a missing persons report, they could do that and it would automatically be sent to all the communities that are connected. The town could do the same thing with road closures, trash pickup, while schools can post lunch menus and other items."

How Many Sex Offenders Live in Your Neighborhood?






Sep 22, 2006 09:12 AM MDT

Nampa, Idaho -- There are sex offender watch dog web sites all over the Internet, and one Nampa parent stumbled upon some information he didn't like. Now he's hoping some changes can be made, because as it stands there are more than a dozen offenders within a half mile of his son's elementary school.
"I entered my address and quite a few dots popped up on the screen," said Beau Courtney, a concerned parent.
Those dots represent sexual offenders, and Courtney was shocked to see how many surrounded his 7-year-old son's elementary school, Lincoln.
"There were 16 offenders who live within a half mile of my sons school and two who live within a 1000 feet," said Courtney.
In the state of Idaho that's legal, according to new legislation that went into effect this July.
"It's designed to keep registered offenders off the school property its based on a 500-foot distance where they can't been inside that distance," said Lt. Marvin Dashiell with the Canyon County Sheriff's Department.
But for Courtney, that's still too close for comfort. So after he found out this alarming information, he did what any concerned parent would do -- he started by calling his son's school, and then moved up the chain all the way to the Idaho State Police.
"I kind of got stymied and I ended up at a point where this is the legislation, this is the way it is, and I worry a lot of parents probably don't know that," said Courtney.
The worst part is the only sex offenders people are able to track are the ones who take the time to register.
"We'll still have the fail to comply's. They won't update registration they won't notify change of addresses or they'll just avoid us once they are convicted," said Dashiell.
"I was lulled into that sense of security, its not in my neighborhood, it's not going to happen to my kid. But it happens, and it happens all over, and I shouldn't have been that way," said Courtney.
The Web site he used was http://www.familywatchdog.us/. That site also lists out where the offender lives, their name, mug shot, and what he or she was convicted of. It will also tell you how many offenders live within certain distances to schools.