Sexual Offender E-mail Alert System Upgraded
Nassau News Staff Writer
You may not realize it, but communities and neighborhoods are surrounded by registered sexual offenders. There are websites where you can search for sexual offenders in your area, but how will you know when a new sexual offender has moved into your neighborhood? This is where Parents for Megan's Law can help, with its newly upgraded e-mail alert system.
To view this article as a video, click on the embedded link below:
Read the Print Version of this Article Below
The Stony Brook-based organization, Parents for Megan's Law, has upgraded its sexual offender e-mail alert system. Notifcation of sexual offenders were once in the form of paper letters, but in 2002, Parent's for Megan's Law began to use e-mail alerts, where it would notify people whenever a moderate or high risk sex offender moved in the Nassau or Suffolk county.
In March of 2008, Parents for Megan's Law received at $593,000 federal grant to upgrade its system, and eventually take the program national. This new, upgraded e-mail alert system will allow people to sign up by computer, where as the old system only allowed people to register via mail. The is system will also allow those who are registered to target the alerts they want to receive by zip code, searchable in all 50 states. Sex offenders will also be able to be searched by quarter mile, half mile, and up to 1 to 5 mile intervals.
While this is great for communities to protect the children, there are also many risks to having such information placed on the internet, where anyone may have access to it.
"The privacy concerns are there," says Seth Muraskin of theNew York Civil Liberties Union.
"It's so easy to hack into a system, and it's so easy for this information to be sent out incorrectly, or to people it shouldn't be sent to."
Still, the state and Parents for Megan's law finds that the e-mail alert system will save housands of dollars. In 2004, the Long Island school district of Longwood spent of $60,000 on mailings alone.
New York has already started the new e-mail alert system, and all 50 states will have access to the system in May of 2008.
Related Links
To learn more about sex offenders and the upgraded e-mail alert system, check out the links below:
- Parents for Megan's Law is a Stony-Brook based organization targeted at keeping children safe. The website contains various types of information, from tips for keeping children safe to registering for program to supper Megan's Law.
- Don't know what Megan's Law is? Find out how the tragic story of a seven-year-old girl from New Jersey inspired the country to create a law named after her.
- Registerfor the e-mail alert system. You can receive e-mail alerts when a moderate or high-risk sex offender moves into one of the zip codes that you request.
- Find out how many sex offenders live in your area. This online program allows you to type in your address and find out how many sexual offenders live within a 5-7 mile radius.
- Don't understand how the upgraded e-mail alert system works? Laure Ahearn, the executive director of Parents for Megan's Law, explains what it is, and how it works.
- Find out how to protect your children from sex offenders. These tips will leave you with knowledge and confidence that your children are protected.
Additional video interviews
Click below to view a longer version of the video, with an added cut of Long Island resident Fran Spencer:
Click on the embedded player below to view the complete interview with Fran Spencer, a Long Island mother. Click here to read the transcribed interview.
To view the complete interview with Seth Muraskin from the New York Civil Liberties Union, click on the embedded player below. Click here to read the transcript
View my production memo, where I explain the trials and tribulations that I experienced throughout the production of the video and the troubles I went through while researching for sources.
