NC Attorney General unveils sex offender app
North Carolina now offers a phone application that allows people to find out if sex offenders live near them and their children. This is no doubt a welcome move by parents, who want to use mobile technology to ensure the safety of their children.
The Department of Justice on Monday released a free mobile application that utilizes the GPS mapping feature built into the Apple iPhone and iPad to show the names, photos and homes of registered sex offenders living nearby. Users can search for offenders within a 1, 3 or 5-mile radius of their present location and receive alerts whenever a registered offender moves in nearby.
The state’s sex offender registry is already available on-line, but Attorney General Roy Cooper said the new app will provide critical safety information to families on the go.
The app makes information mobile, using GPS information to map where offenders live wherever the mobile devices goes. Users can also search by address, and get e-mail alerts to track specific offenders. The app was developed by the department’s information technology department and uses the SBI Registry information as submitted by county sheriffs.
One problem?
The app is not yet available to Android users, so the non-Apple addicts among us may have to wait a while for this safety measure.
What do you think of the app? Will you be downloading it?
