>> 30 welcome back. This next
story came to us from someone
in the community who was
notified a registered sex
offender is moving into their
neighborhood and they’re
concerned about how to keep
their family safe in the
situation. They posted about it
in their neighborhood. Facebook
group and it generated a lot
of really great questions.
So we wanted to continue this
conversation this morning with
Andy Kahan, director of Victim
Services with Crime Stoppers.
Houston. Thank you so much for
coming in and we do appreciate
it. Great to be. Here are 3
cups of coffee. So let’s get
these wired my own eyes.
So we’re continuing this
conversation. This kind of
really started with Megan’s law
for people not familiar with
what Megan’s Law is to. Megan
was a young girl in nudge in
New Jersey and an be knowing
is to her and her family.
There was a convicted sex
offender living right across
the street from her whose
tendency was to prey
upon children.
>> Megan, unfortunately, was
sexually assaulted. And then
subsequently murdered. The
family was upset. They were
outraged, lied and we know
about it. We could have
protected our daughters.
They were, you know, we could
have kept her away from that.
And that was the genesis and
the jest for what’s commonly
called Sex offender registry
laws, which are prominent in
all states today. That was the
catalyst for change. I do want
to draw your attention to the
fact that this person
was notified.
>> Is this common practice?
Does this not always happen?
If you get notification in the
mail, you can blame make
because that was actually a law
that we ended up passing.
I want to say was in 2000 and
won.
>> I had a Louisiana
originally. I went over there
and they had a notification
system which I was really
impressed with. If you are a
high-risk sex offender.
And you are being released back
to the community from prison or
if you are put on probation,
then if you live within a 3
block radius or a mile radius,
you got a direct notification
kind of like, well, here’s your
new neighbor. Here’s who the
person is. You’ve got
their name, their address,
their offense and the picture
that’s only for high risk.
So there’s a threshold with
this. And only if you’re in
that one mile radius, do you
get a notice? The sex offender
registry, which is available
for anybody right in the state
of Texas. And we highly
encourage people in families to
check it regularly because the
reality is there’s a good
percentage of sex offenders
are transient. So what you look
for today might not necessarily
be the same 2 weeks or a month
from now, but you can check by
your zip code and you can get
all sorts of information as to
who’s residing in your
neighborhood that’s currently
required to register to consult
that list. Where can people go?
I tax Department of Public
Safety. There’s certain
different apps that can pull up
each local police department
has registries. And the best
thing about it is it is public
information. And basically
we’re just making the public
information user friendly where
you can access it quickly.
Many different resources.
What are some common
misconceptions about the
freedom someone has as a
registered sex offender living
in the community? One of the
questions that we get all the
time was, well, there’s a sex
offender and its right across
the street from an elementary
school. Can they do that?
They can reside anywhere.
They please. If they are not on
paper. So in other words, if a
sex offender has completed
their obligation to the state
of Texas, they’re no longer
on parole. They finish their
probation. Then they’re not
required to not reside in
what’s commonly called child
Safety zones. If you are on
parole or probation, often the
parole board or the probation
department and the court.
We’ll put a stipulation in your
condition that the state you
can’t reside within 1000 feet
of a school or daycare or any
facility that predominantly
takes care of children. So the
important thing to remember is
if you’re on paper, parole
probation, basically you can’t
do that. Really good
perspective. What are some
rights that homeowners have?
If they do find out that there
is a registered sex offender
moving down into a home down
the street from their home.
What are their rights as
a homeowner?
>> When you have the right to
that information, give the
right to know who they are.
You have the right to know
their level of risk. And
there’s been 4 different levels
of risk. There’s high risk,
moderate risk, low risk.
And then of course, there are
civil commitment which are far
and few between. But we do have
civil commitment for hire
assessment of the best thing is
that year. Get to know who
you’re in a way. We say get
to know your neighbors are so
this community, this is one
where you get to know if there
are registered sex offenders
in your neighborhood and trust
me with over 7500 registered
sex offender in the greater
Houston area. More than likely
they’re going to be some in