PHOENIX -- Thousands of trick or treaters will be canvassing neigborhoods across the Valley and state this weekend and law enforecment worries dangerous predators could also be on prowl.
The Arizona Department of Public Safety has established a website where the general public can access information on registered sex offenders.
DPS spokesman, Harold Sanders showed ABC15 details of the database to explain how this educational tool can help keep families safer this Halloween.
In seconds, Sanders pulled up faces of convicted sexual offenders living in almost every Valley neighborhood.
"What the website will do is take you to a map that will have streets," explained Sanders.
Within zip code 85009, 73 sexual offenders and just outside that zip another 241.
"Then you can actually click on an individual's name and bring up the entire information as far as charges and then you'll be able to pull up their work address, you'll be able pull up if there are daycare centers, schools that are within a boundary of this particular sex offender," showed Sanders.
DPS doesn't want to give the public a false sense of security. This website only shows registered sex offenders who have been through the courts and a judge classifies as being an intermediate or high risk level, and should not be used as a 100 percent tracking tool.
DPS RISK ASSESSMENT CATEGORIES:
1 - LOW
2 - INTERMEDIATE
3 - HIGH
"We also have another problem which is called our homeless community because there is no address that can be associated with them and at times we'll get a location 7th Street and McDowell," Sanders said. "Well you can't really verify that but that is the location they give for a home or an address so that's another problem that we have."
A problem because there's no way of tracking exactly how many sexual offenders are in the Arizona not to mention in your own neighborhood.
"There's no way for us to determine how many actual sex offenders exist in the state or in a particular area and that becomes a problem," explained Sanders.
The Arizona Department of Public Safety (DPS) has established this site according to the requirements of A.R.S. 13-3827. DPS is responsible for maintaining the site and annually verifying the addresses of all registered sex offenders.
Sex Offender Search Tool / Additional ResourcesThe website below has been provided to allow the public to search for sex offenders within Arizona, learn the laws, and to obtain additional information:
-Arizona Sex Offender Search Tool -Arizona Sex Offender Information Center, State Laws, & Contacts
