New Map Function Lets Registry Users Track the Proximity of Sex Offenders

The D.C. police department has enhanced its online sex-offender registry, adding a mapping function that allows a user to type in any address in the city and view information on offenders living or working near that location.

The main purpose of the new function is to allow residents to enter their home addresses, or the addresses of their children's schools, and easily find out whether any offenders reside or are employed nearby, said Sgt. Robert Panizari, who oversees the registry.

In the past, the process for determining that information was cumbersome.

Panizari said the department has received "a lot of calls from a lot of people" asking for the improvement in the registry, which has been available online since March 2001. It can be accessed through the police department's Web site, http://www.mpdc.dc.gov.

The 800-plus offenders are listed alphabetically, with each name accompanied by a photo and the home and work locations (by street and block, not specific address). The registry does not include details of the crimes they were convicted of committing.

Before the addition of the mapping function, online users could narrow the list of offenders to those living or working within a specific police service area, or PSA, of which there are about 45. A user living in PSA 503, for example, could get information about any offenders living or working in that large swath of Northeast Washington.

But the Web site did not allow users to map the distance between their homes or their children's' schools and the locations of the offenders. Also, Panizari said, many D.C. residents do not know which of the department's PSAs they live in.

With the enhancement, a user can enter any address in the city and choose between a list of offenders living or working within a quarter-mile radius or a half-mile radius.

The online registries in Maryland and Virginia also offer mapping functions. "Just about every jurisdiction does this," Panizari said.