Protect Your Children!

NUMBER OF REGISTERED SEX OFFENDERS IN THE US
NEARS THREE-QUARTERS OF A MILLION

Registered Sex Offender Numbers Increased 23 Percent in Past 5 Years
California, Texas and Florida Top the List

February 2012

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) released the results of its latest survey regarding the number of registered sex offenders located in the U.S. The organization’s most recent survey of states found there are 747,408 registered sex offenders in the country today, which represents an increase of 7,555 offenders from the previous survey in June 2011.

NCMEC conducted its first survey in 2006, which showed there were 606,816 registered sex offenders in the U.S. In just five years, an additional 140,592 convicted sex offenders have been added to sex offender registries across the country, an increase of 23.2%. The three states with the largest number of registered sex offenders are California (106,216), Texas (68,529) and Florida (57,896).

“The courts have long held that the requirement that a convicted sex offender register with authorities is not punitive, it is regulatory” said Ernie Allen, president and CEO of NCMEC. “It is a reasonable measure designed to provide important information to authorities and to help protect the public, particularly children. These registries are especially important because of the high risk of re-offense by some of these offenders, and the fact that most of the victims of America’s sex offenders are younger than 18 years of age.”

The first sex offender registry was created in 1947 in California. Today, every state has such a registry.

NCMEC created the survey in 2006, following the enactment of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act in July of that year. Each year since the survey was created, NCMEC contacts the sex offender registry in each state as well as registries located in the District of Columbia and five U.S. territories (Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands). In the US Virgin Islands, St. Thomas and St. Croix maintain separate sex offender registries, bringing the total number of registries surveyed to 57.

“America has awakened to the threat posed by sex offenders,” said Allen. “Today, there is a system in place. Law enforcement is more vigilant and common-sense steps have been taken to better protect the public, particularly the children.”

NCMEC has conducted 13 sex offender register surveys since 2006 and were performed quarterly until 2009. Since then, they have been done twice each year.

In 2006 NCMEC also created a special dedicated Sex Offender Tracking Team. This group of analysts -- working with the U.S. Marshals Service and state and local law enforcement -- accesses donated public records data and aids in locating an estimated 100,000 noncompliant or fugitive sex offenders. To date, NCMEC has received 15,802 requests from law enforcement nationwide to assist in locating noncompliant sex offenders, and has provided 15,763 analytical leads packages to law enforcement, resulting in the apprehension of thousands of fugitives.

Code Adam

February 2012


EMCOR Group, Inc. is the proud sponsor of the Code Adam program.

Code Adam is seeking program participants Order a Code Adam Kit online, free of charge.

For more information,
call 1-800-THE-LOST®
1-800-843-5678 or e-mail codeadam@ncmec.org

Program Participants

Code Adam is a powerful search tool for lost and possibly abducted children currently used in tens of thousands of establishments across the nation. The program is simple to learn and to implement: a special Code Adam alert is issued on the premises when a customer reports a missing child.

Offered free of charge to participants, it is one of the country’s largest child-safety programs, created and named in memory of 6-year-old Adam Walsh.

How it Works

Code Adam decals are posted at the entrance of participating buildings/establishments. Employees of participating establishments are trained to take the following steps when a Code Adam is activated:
Obtain a detailed description of the child and what he or she is wearing.

Go to the nearest in-house telephone and page “Code Adam,” describing the child’s physical features and clothing. Designated employees immediately stop working and look for the child. Designated employees monitor front entrances to ensure the child does not leave the premises.

If the child is not found within 10 minutes, call law enforcement.

If the child is found and appears to have been lost and unharmed, reunite the child with the searching family member.

If the child is found accompanied by someone other than a parent or legal guardian, make reasonable efforts to delay their departure without putting the child, staff, or visitors at risk. Immediately notify law enforcement and give details about the person accompanying the child.

Cancel the Code Adam page after the child is found or law enforcement arrives. 

THOSE WHO VICTIMIZE CHILDREN ARE USUALLY NOT STRANGERS

By Ernie Allen, President and CEO

February 2012

National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
The recent events at Penn State University and Syracuse University serve as reminders that the sexual abuse and exploitation of children is an all-too-present fact of modern life. Yet, millions of Americans do not believe that this problem exists at all. Why?

Overwhelmingly, the child victims do not tell. Leading scholars and researchers tell us that at least 1 in 5 girls and 1 in 10 boys will be sexually victimized in some way before they reach the age of 18, and just 1 in 3 will tell anybody about it. These are America’s hidden victims. We have made progress as a nation in attacking this problem but even today, two out of three child victims suffer in silence. They don’t tell Mom, they don’t tell Dad, they don’t tell anybody.

Millions doubt the existence of these heinous crimes for another reason. The offenders do not match society’s stereotype. Most Americans want to believe that someone who would prey upon a child sexually is evil-looking, a menacing, frightening stranger.

Yet, we have learned that most often those who victimize children are not strangers to the child, they are known to the child. They seek out legitimate access to the child. We should never be shocked when someone who abuses a child is a volunteer or employee of a youth-serving organization, or a school, or a daycare center, or many other settings that provide easy, low-risk access to children. That is why the leading child-serving organizations have taken bold steps to do background screening of their staff and volunteers, and then monitor and supervise the interactions between adults and children.

In monitoring sex offender treatment groups and programs, one hears a chilling word, “grooming.” Most often, these offenders who prey upon children do not snatch their victims randomly from the streets, they groom their victims, win their confidence and trust through friendship, kindness, and then they violate it. In so many of these cases, the child is made to feel responsible, like it is his or her fault. And the child is often intimidated or threatened by this person of trust and authority.

Even if they decide to tell, will anyone listen to them? Will anyone understand? These children feel that no one will believe them even if they do speak out, and too many adults simply do not listen to or understand what children try to tell us.

The offenders are not dirty, menacing strangers, they are respectable citizens – doctors, lawyers, businessmen, teachers, police officers. Often they are people who outwardly show deep and enduring commitment to helping children in need.

What can you do? What can every citizen do? First, communicate with your children and empower them. Make sure that they understand that you love them, trust them, believe them and that if anyone ever touches them in a way that makes them feel uncomfortable, they should tell you or a trusted adult.

Second, the first line of defense is a vigilant public. If you see it, know about it or suspect it, report it. Call your local police and then call 1 (800) THE LOST or report it to www.cybertipline.com, at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

The sexual exploitation of children is not a problem that only happens somewhere else. It is happening in big cities and small towns across America. Thousands of children fall victim to sexual exploitation every year. We need to do more. Because every child deserves a safe childhood.

New England Informer created a “Missing Person’s” section to increase public awareness of missing people (children and adults). We were not sure how we would handle this section; we just knew it was something we had to do, especially when looking into the faces of those who are momentarily lost.

We forged an unbreakable collaboration, with an extraordinary woman, Kelly Jolkowski, president and founder of Project Jason, Adopt a Missing Person Program. She also is the mother of a missing son, Jason Jolkowski.

Missing children and adults after a while seem forgotten while thousands are often overlooked or not even publicized. Even thought, New England Informer was not allowed to collaborate with large missing persons organizations because we are independent and not within the system, we worked within our community to find resources to make this page happen.

We will continue to develop networks and resources to make sure our community does not allow these and so many other children and adults to become lost in the system and forgotten or overlooked.

I call on everyone to use New England Informer as a resource to speak for those who can’t speak for themselves. We cannot bring these children and adults back but we can become a means to help those who are working to do that type of work.

As long as there is New England Informer, we will feature Missing Children and Adults while serving as a link or resource. So keep coming back and keep checking. Don’t let them be forgotten. Send us your adult and child.

As for the families of these missing loved ones who may never meet anyone at New England Informer, we want you to understand, there are people out here who have hope they will be found and return home soon.

We are the hand of hope, if only through disseminating an image throughout our readership

.
Thank you

Doreen Wade
Publisher and CEO

Follow NCMEC on Facebook

Stay up-to-date with the latest at the National Center by joining us on Facebook.

The National Center has a group page you can become a fan of – just type “National Center for Missing & Exploited Children” in the search box at the top of your homepage.

Install the Cause Application on your profile then search for the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, using the application search box, to become a supporter and recruit your friends to the cause.

RILYA ALERT CRITERIA

·   The abduction is of a child age 17 years or younger

·   The parent must have contacted law enforcement to report child missing.

·  A RILYA Alert may also be issued if the child is classified as a runaway by the police.  If the  parent has reported missing child and has convincing evidence that child does not have a history of running away, an alert will be initiated within the 1st hour.

We recognize that at times, not all information is readily available (ie. license plate numbers, name of abductor, or witness to abduction.  In such cases, the available information will be reviewed and verified prior to RILYA Alert.

·  The law-enforcement agency believes the child is in imminent danger of serious bodily injury or death.

·  All children of color meeting the criteria for the Amber Alert will also receive the RILYA Alert

If these criteria are met, alert information is assembled for public distribution. This information may include descriptions and pictures of the missing child, the suspected abductor, and a suspected vehicle along with any other information available and valuable to identifying the child and suspect.

*The staff at Peas In Their Pods respectfully requests that once a child is found that any organization posting information remove their pictures from their sites.

TruTV In-Session's FIND OUR CHILDREN Series

CNN Headline news is partnering with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children to air a new series on TruTV In-Session that features one missing child case every week. The segment, "FIND OUR CHILDREN", is hosted by anchor Christi Paul and airs on Tuesdays at 1:45 PM. The segment will air a second time on Thursdays at 11:45 AM.

Anyone with information about any of the missing children cases featured should contact the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST.