A new Washington State online database not only lets you see which sex predators are in your midst, but also can alert you by e-mail if an offender moves close by, says the Seattle Times. The Web site is the state’s first centralized sex-offender database for law enforcement and the public, said Colleen Wilson, president of the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs (WASPC). The list is located on the association’s Web site. Until now, WASPC, every sheriff’s office, and many police departments across the state kept their own databases containing varying information about sex offenders required to register under state law.
Under the new system, sex-offender registry information will still be taken by local law enforcement but will be automatically fed into the WASPC database. The information includes the offender’s name, photo and general address, such as street name and block number. She said the database, as well of other changes to the way that state law-enforcement officials monitor sex offenders, was prompted by the July 2007 kidnapping and slaying of 12-year-old Zina Linnik of Tacoma. Convicted sex offender Terapon Adhahn was sentenced to life in prison without parole last year for that crime.