Tech Thursday – New York Has Facebook App to Locate Sex Offenders

I'm a Dad, and want my kid to be safe this Halloween. I don't know a parent who doesn't. To help keep kids safe, the New York State Division of Criminal Justice is helping with an application they created for Facebook to help you find Sex Offenders, so you can stay away from their homes.

The app will allow you to find medium to high risk offenders in your area quickly and easily. Acting Commissioner of the Division of Criminal Justice, Sean Byrne said in a news release, "New Yorkers now have another way to access up-to-date information about sex offenders in their neighborhoods.." There are currently 32,994 sex offenders in the state’s offender registry. Of those, 673 have a risk level that is pending and will be added when it is determined, with about 12,000 Level 1 offenders and almost 12,000 Level 2 offenders.

I have to give kudos to New York for forward thinking and making this app. It will make it a "no Brianne" for me to avoid these people to keep my daughter safe this weekend with Trick-or-Treating. I did a search for my area, and there are only 3 places I would avoid where I live. So I can say, it is a handy tool to have at your fingertips.Just fill in one or more of the fields and you have your list for your area. All you would really need though is your zip code to plug into it. Just remember to not abuse this. There are stiff penalties for using this database to commit a crime.

Happy Halloween!

$>logout