Sex offenders may find public glare harder to avoid

"Features"

02/22/2006

Pawlenty pursuing ‘Most Wanted’ list to help locate unregistered predators

BY RACHEL E. STASSEN-BERGER
Pioneer Press

Minnesotans may soon start seeing Most Wanted postings for sex offenders who haven’t registered with state authorities.

Of 17,000 predatory offenders required to tell law enforcement officers their whereabouts, about 1,400 failed to share that information.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty on Tuesday announced a new initiative to post the noncompliant sex offenders on state Web sites and create a “Most Wanted” campaign to increase public awareness.

“Citizens know who lives and works in their communities,” Pawlenty said. “Their assistance in tracking down these offenders will be extremely helpful.”

The state also would grant local law enforcement officers some extra overtime pay so they can work to track down the offenders. The entire initiative would cost about $300,000.

Pawlenty, like some lawmakers, also is interested in sharing more information about more sex offenders with the public.

Right now only a fraction of the registered sex offenders’ names and photos are made public through the Corrections Department Web site. Most states make public much more information about offenders.

Rep. Joseph Atkins, DFL-Inver Grove Heights, is sponsoring a measure that would require state officials to assign a risk level to all sex offenders upon their departure from prison. Right now fewer than 4,000 have been given such designations, which represent the chances they will commit another sex crime. About 10,000 offenders have never had risk levels assigned.

The governor said he also supports that proposal.