Oneida County Sheriff’s Office Offers New, Free Family…

Oneida County Sheriff’s Office Offers New, Free Family Safety Mobile App to Protect Families and Children from Sexual Predators

Oneida County Sheriff’s Office Partners with the OffenderWatch App to Inform Parents on Registered Sex Offenders

Oneida County, NY (4/20/2022)—Over 80 percent of Americans live within one mile of a registered sex offender, and online harassment and abuse continues to increase. The Oneida County Sheriff’s Office is pleased to announce a new partnership that will help it keep families safer from sex offenders in their virtual neighborhood, as well as their physical one. The office today announced it has partnered with OffenderWatch, the nation’s leading sex offender registry partner, to offer a new, free family safety mobile app to keep families and children safer.

The Oneida County Sheriff’s Office is now offering the OffenderWatch App, free for download on both Android and iPhone smartphone devices. After downloading the app, citizens will be able to see registered sex offenders located near them or their family members. They will also receive free alerts when a registered sex offender moves into their neighborhood. The app also offers online safety information and tips for how to talk to children about sex offenders.

“The Offender Watch App is a great tool for our community. The Oneida County Sheriff’s Office places public safety at the forefront, the Offender Watch App is another tool that the public can use to increase family safety.” – Oneida County Sheriff Robert Maciol

One in five teens has received an unwanted sexual solicitation online, according to the Crimes Against Children Research Center. In 2021, most of the more than 29 million tips reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children dealt with child sexual abuse images, online enticement, including “sextortion,” child sex trafficking, and child sexual molestation.

Online safety has been a challenge for both law enforcement and technology companies for years—

but now the OffenderWatch App is helping to bridge the gap.

Families will have the option to choose to upgrade the app to a paid version, which includes more features. In the “Protect Plus” version of the OffenderWatch App, the app will monitor a child’s texts, emails, location and phone calls. The app then sends an immediate alert to parents if a registered sex offender contacts the child, or if the child the child lingers near the address of a sex offender.

​“Our mission is to help law enforcement better protect communities from sexual predators, so we are constantly innovating to offer new solutions for both our virtual and physical worlds,” said Mike Cormaci, president and co-founder of Mandeville-based OffenderWatch. “As predators continue to groom and solicit children online, we’re helping law enforcement and families combat these efforts before it becomes a tragedy. If the OffenderWatch App helps to save one child from abuse, it’s worth it.”

How the OffenderWatch App Works

• Parents who sign up for the OffenderWatch App download the app on their own smartphone and their child’s Android or iPhone device.

• In the free version of the app, parents can see their child’s location and the location of registered sex offenders.

• Parents will receive notifications if a sex offender moves into their neighborhood.

• For the paid version, the app also monitors the child’s smartphone texts, emails, location and phone calls in the background, without storing the child’s messages or interfering with its use.

• If a registered sex offender contacts the child, or if the child the child lingers near the address of a sex offender, the parent or guardian receives an instant notification.

• From there, parents should ask their children about their smartphone activity or contact law enforcement to investigate.

Parents and guardians can download the app or learn more at our website http://oneidacountysheriff.us/ or at OffenderWatch.com.

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ABOUT OFFENDERWATCH

There are over 850,000 registered sex offenders in the United States. Many states have different systems for registering and tracking these offenders, making it difficult for agencies to track offender relocations across state lines, share electronic offender records, and collaborate on investigations. OffenderWatch works with law enforcement agencies to provide national network of registries and notification tools to easily communicate information to the public. Founded in 2000 in Covington, La. under the Watch Systems company, OffenderWatch provides a variety of services to sheriffs’ offices, police departments, Attorney’s General offices, U.S. Marshal judicial districts, U.S. attorneys, federal and state probation and parole agents, departments of corrections, Indian tribes, and more. OffenderWatch partnered with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Canada to deliver the Canadian National Sex Offender Registry. OffenderWatch is also a part of the Caribbean Committee Against Sex Crimes (CCASC), an initiative of nonprofit Zandoli USA, to implement sex offender registries across the 15 nations of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). In 2019, OffenderWatch launched a new, patented technology, the OffenderWatch App. The mobile app locates registered sex offenders near parents and their kids and identifies online contact from registered sex offenders through a kid’s electronic device or if their device lingers near an offender’s residence, instantly alerting parents to the communication. Learn more at OffenderWatch.com or on Facebook @OffenderWatch.

MEDIA CONTACTS

• Oneida County Sheriff’s Office: Sheriff Robert Maciol, rmmaciol@oneidacountysheriff.us, 315-765-2200

• For OffenderWatch: Erin Heltz, pr@offenderwatch.com, 985-956-0297