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Framing a Law Enforcement Response: Addressing Community Concerns About Sex Offenders

NCJ Number
250407
Date Published
October 2007
Length
2 pages
Annotation
This brochure instructs law enforcement personnel in subject matter that they can use to better inform community members on how law enforcement and community residents can act to prevent sex offenses.
Abstract
The brochure is in a question-and-answer format. One question pertains to the nature of "grooming" behavior by pedophiles who may be targeting a particular child for sexual contact. Grooming behaviors include gifts to the child, favors for the child and expectations of reciprocal responses that please the sexual predator, and using the Internet to search for vulnerable children seeking friends. Law enforcement agencies are also provided with information that answers questions related to the following 10 issues: 1) why sex offenders are allowed housing in a community after they have completed their sentences; 2) what a law enforcement agency is doing to protect the community from sex offenders; 3) the features of "community notification" about sex offenders; 4) which sex offenders are required to register and for how long; 5) why the public is not informed about every sex offender living in the community; 6) why sex offenders considered dangerous are released into the community after completing prison sentences; 7) what persons can do to protect themselves and their families from known or unknown sex offenders; 8) resources available to victims of sexual assault; 9) what can be done if a sex offender is observed watching from his yard as children get off a school bus; and 10) the belief that all sex offenders are the same. A listing of 10 resources for law enforcement agencies on these issues and a description of the work of the International Association of Chiefs of Police in researching law enforcement's management of sex offenders