According to the Barton County Sheriff’s Office. In recent weeks, in an effort to ensure compliance and foster public safety, the Barton County Sheriff’s Office has been doing a canvas of all registered sex offenders and violent crime offenders in Barton County.
“The Sheriff’s Office maintains a public database known as “Offender Watch”. The database is open to the public and has various features including mapping, that allows the public to see where registered offenders live,” Barton County Sheriff Brian Bellendir said. “Citizens may also sign up for automatic email alerts in the event an offender moves into your neighborhood.”
Offender Watch is available on the Barton County webpage under the Sheriff’s drop-down tab.
Bellendir also mentioned that Sheriff’s Deputies have been going to the addresses reported on the offender’s data sheet and making contact with them to ensure their compliance with the terms of their required registration.
Nearly 100 offenders were checked. It was found that more than 95 percent of those required to register for violent and sexual offenses were compliant.
If an offender is found not to be compliant, a report will be submitted to the Barton County Attorney’s Office in an attempt to seek prosecution.
“The Sheriff’s office plans to continue checking on offenders, and within the next few weeks we will be contacting persons who are registered as drug offenders.” Bellendir said.