One way to do that is avoiding homes of registered sex offenders.
Frederick, Md (IKM). Trick or treat time is almost here, when children dress up in scary costumes and try to get some goodies from their neighbors.
In addition to going only to homes of people they know, establishing a return time and walking on sidewalks and not the streets, the Frederick County Sheriff’;s Office says children need to avoid the homes of individuals who are registered sex offenders. Major Tim Clarke says parents can go on line and find out if there are any registered sex offenders in or near their neighborhoods. “And you can also register your address and receive e-mail alerts when a new offender is within a certain location of your address. And that keeps you up to date on anything that’s happening recently within your neighborhood or near your residence,” he says.
The website to visit is http://frederickcountymd.gov/sheriff.. Click the Community Services Tab and then the Sex Offender Search.
Major Clarke says the Maryland Sex Offender Registry does not prohibit sex offenders from participating in Halloween activities, including passing out candy to kids from their homes. But their parole and probation officers can tell them not to take part, and may require them to post a sign on their home which says “no candy.” “If you see that sign, that indicates that there is a sex offender in that home and they’re not to participate in Halloween at all,” he says.
If you know from the website where sex offenders live in your community, Clarke encourages you to tell your children not to visit those homes as part of their trick-or-treating. “Through awareness, you as a parent and an adult will know where those individuals are in relation to your development and your address, and you can make a specific choice on how you can handle that,” he says.
Even though the names and addresses of sex offenders are available on line, Major Clarke says you should not harass these people, and that includes egging their houses on Halloween. “That would itself be a crime, and then we would investigate that thoroughly,” he says.
Halloween night is Tuesday, October 31st.
By Kevin McManus