Multiple counties across Georgia, including those in Northeast Georgia, participated in an initiative to find and arrest sex offenders violating state registration laws. Jackson and White Counties are a couple of those that participated in Operation Watchful Eye VII, which involved 66 Georgia Sheriffs and saw 42 sex offenders arrested.
The statewide effort conducts residence verifications and compliance checks of known sex offenders during a specific time period. This operation took place during the last week of October and not only were multiple arrests made but 117 warrants were also issued across the state.
The operation has been an annual coordinated effort of multiple agencies since 2015. In a press release issued November 4, the Georgia Sheriffs' Association explained more about the operation. “The Office of Sheriff is mandated by law to register sex offenders and to keep the public informed of where registered sex offenders reside, work and attend school. Throughout the year, each sheriff’s office verifies addresses provided by registered sex offenders. While conducting residence verifications, deputies also assure additional registration requirements are being adhered to.”
They added that the goal is to make communities safer by working collectively with other sheriff’s departments. They also want to create awareness, while also verifying sex offenders comply with the law.
During the one-week operation, they verified that 7,878 registered sex offenders are actually residing at the addresses they have listed. Also, 79 warrants were issued for residence violations, 9 new warrants were issued for violations of the sex offender registry law (other than residence violations, 2 warrants were issued for new sex offenses, and 27 warrants were issued for other miscellaneous new charges.
The most important piece of information to come from the week is that 476 sex offenders statewide are no longer living at the addresses they have provided to authorities. Now the local sheriff’s offices will work with other agencies to track those individuals down.
For more information about sex offenders living in your community, visit http://gbi.georgia.gov/georgia-sex-offender-registry.
