TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – When convicted of a qualifying sex offense in Florida, criminals are required to register as a sexual offender or predator with the state.
Out-of-state offenders who move to Florida are also required to register, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
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Local ordinances can restrict where these offenders live, so there are often cases where many of these offenders will live clustered in a given area.
So how can you tell whether sex offenders are living near you?
The FDLE offers a database for sex offenders and predators, which allows people to track where they’re living.
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To do so, Florida residents can head to the FDLE’s website here, enter their address and the radius that they’d like to search, and the tracker will come up with a map indicating whether any offenders live nearby.
Fdle - Offender Map by Anthony Talcott on Scribd
The results of a search will show the following:
- Your Location: This is marked by a white bubble at the center of the map with an “H.”
- Homeless Offender: This is marked by a blue tent on the map.
- Homeless Predator: This is marked by a red tent on the map.
- Sexual Offender: This is marked by a blue house on the map.
- Sexual Predator: This is marked by a red house on the map.
- Multiple Offenders: When several offenders gather at a single address, this is marked by a purple house on the map.
Any results that come up in a search will also provide information on the details of any nearby offenders or predators.
The public registry is updated in “real-time,” continuously providing up-to-date information as it’s received by the FDLE.
According to the agency, some offenders and predators will remain on the website for one year even after they die to give victims and law enforcement time to be properly notified.
In addition to location data, residents can look up offenders’ employment addresses.
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