Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray announced today that his office has received a federal grant that will help county sheriffs keep better track of registered sex offenders.
The $155,546 grant will pay for two new programs.
The first will allow the Attorney General's Office to develop a phone and e-mail alert system that will send automated messages to offenders and sheriffs' offices around Ohio, five days before offenders are supposed to re-register as part of their reporting requirements. The system also will track phone numbers or e-mail addresses that no longer are in operation, alerting sheriffs' offices if the contact information provided by offenders is incorrect.
"This automated system will ensure that offenders know when they must register and will help county sheriffs' offices make sure that those offenders comply with those requirements," Cordray said.
"Monitoring registered sex offenders is a difficult task for sheriffs' offices, especially those that have had to make staffing cutbacks," said Coshocton County Sheriff Timothy Rogers, president of the Buckeye State Sheriffs Association. "This new callback system will help our sheriffs better keep track of offenders, especially those who do not comply with their registration requirements, and we thank Attorney General Cordray for his support."
The second part of the grant will help county sheriffs' offices fund extradition of offenders who moved to other states without notifying local authorities as required by law.
The grant will fund extradition of up to 50 of the most serious sex offenders, which will allow them to be prosecuted in state courts.
"Too often noncompliant offenders avoid prosecution simply because smaller counties cannot afford the overtime and travel expenses needed to pick them up. This grant will help address this problem." Cordray said.
The grant money was awarded by the federal Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering and Tracking and the Adam Walsh Act Implementation Grant Program, which is part of the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs.
In 2009, Ohio became the first state in the nation to reach substantial implementation of the federal Adam Walsh Act.
About Marion Online News
