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Sex Offender and Community Notification
In a continuing effort to protect the public from sex offenders and sexual predators, the 1997 Nevada Legislature passed a law which requires local law enforcement agencies to notify those members of the community who are reasonably likely to encounter a sex offender, that a sex offender is either residing or working in their neighborhood. This is known as Community Notification of Sex Offenders. The law, NRS Chapter 179D, also expanded the Community Notification law to now include all sex offenders who reside in the state as well as certain juvenile sex offenders. The purpose of this law is to provide further protection to parents, educators and volunteers in the form of information that a sex offender is residing in your community.
If an offender was convicted of committing a crime defined by NRS 179D, that offender must register with local law enforcement and may be subject to Community Notification. Once the offender has registered, whether in prison, on probation or parole, or even if the offender has expired his prison or jail term, the Records and Technology Bureau, Sex Offender Registry Program will prepare a "risk assessment" of the offender. The risk assessment is a tool that is used to attempt to predict whether the offender is a "low", "moderate", or "high" risk for reoffending. This assessment takes into consideration many factors such as the crime or crimes the offender; has been convicted of; the age, the motive and habits of the offender, as well as psychological profiles of the offender and his behavior while in prison.
Your local law enforcement agency is not expected or required to notify every possible school, organization, business or individual within its jurisdiction for each particular sex offender who is subject to notification. While such extensive notification may be necessary for certain sex offenders or under certain circumstances, as a general rule, a local law enforcement agency may tailor the scope of its notification according to the specific characteristics of each particular sex offender and each particular location where notification is to be provided.
For example, some sex offenders may prey only upon children of a certain age or gender, or only upon children who reside or attend school within close geographical proximity to the sex offender's residence or place of employment. If such information concerning a particular sex offender is available, then the local law enforcement agency providing community notification may focus its notification efforts on those schools, organizations, businesses and, if appropriate, members of the public who are most vulnerable to the sex offender's predatory tendencies.
School districts, private educational institutions, camps, day care centers, foster care centers or homes, and those religious or other community organizations that care for or otherwise provide services and programs for women and children. The local law enforcement agency, using its judgment, discretion, training, and experience, is responsible for determining which individuals and organizations are reasonably likely to encounter the offender.
Any group, agency, or organization that provides services to women and children is encouraged to register with law enforcement to receive notification. Information which you or your organization should provide to your local law enforcement agency would include the organization's address, the name and telephone number of a person to contact for purposes of coordinating notification, and a concise description of the particular services and programs which the organization provides for vulnerable populations such as children.
Upon confirming that an organization requesting notification does in fact provide the services or programs for vulnerable populations that are described in the registration statement, and that the group, agency or organization is reasonably likely to encounter the offender, the local law enforcement agency will include such organization on a notification list to be utilized when implementing notification at the Tier 2 and 3 levels.
In determining whether there is a reasonably likely chance such school, organization or individual will encounter a particular offender, and whether a particular organization or individual is an appropriate subject to receive notification, local law enforcement agencies consider numerous factors including: the physical geographic proximity of the school, organization or individual to the location where the offender resides, works, visits or can be presumed to visit on a regular basis; the circumstances surrounding any previous crimes committed by the offender; whether a particular individual has characteristics that are the same or are similar to those of any previous victim of the offender; any other relevant factors deemed appropriate for consideration by the local law enforcement agency.
Additional dissemination of the information outside the particular organization or an individual's immediate family to other schools, organizations and individuals may be a violation of the offender's legal rights as well as state law and may subject such organizations and individuals disseminating the information to civil liability .Any acts of recrimination or vigilantism against the offender are unlawful, and will likely subject the individual engaging in such acts to civil liability as well as criminal prosecution. Community Notification information is being imparted in order to promote public safety and awareness. Persons receiving such information are not to take the law into their own hands, but are to promptly report any suspicious activity concerning the subject of the notification to local law enforcement officials.
Your local law enforcement agency:
Truckee Meadows Human Services Association (775) 333-8275.
Records and Technology Bureau, Sex Offender Registry, 684-6262 ext. 2.
The Nevada Attorney General's Office: (775) 684-1249
Sex Offender Registry Fax (775) 684-6282 |
