The Pike County Sheriff’s Office has launched a new website to better notify the public when a sex offender registers within the county or changes location.

“This gives a more efficient way of notifying the public,” said Ryan Ellis, administrative assistant in the Sheriff’s Office. “We used to have to mail out flyers; now there is a custom flyer mailed and printed out to anyone within 2,000 feet of an offender’s address once they move.”

As part of this new service, citizens may enter any address of interest to them and see a map and listing of all offenders within a user-defined radius of up to 2 miles from that address. Citizens can then register the address to be continuously monitored by the Sheriff, who will send to them an email alerting them if an offender or predator should register an address within their specified radius of their address. Citizens may confidentially register as many addresses as they like, at no cost to them.

“Citizens have a right to know who may be living near them and could potentially pose a threat to their families. The Alabama sheriffs using OffenderWatch have the most up-to-date information on all offenders registered in the state and I am happy to be able to provide that information to them,” Thomas said.

The sheriff has also made available additional web-based resources designed to educate and inform the public on ways to keep their families safe.

Citizens can access the OffenderWatch registry at the Pike County Sheriff’s office sex offender search page at  http://www.communitynotification.com/al/pike/