By Lindy J. Gwinn, Mountain Valley News staff
With the assistance of Intern Town Administrator Mitch Meier, Cedaredge Police Department has launched a website that allows people to determine who has been convicted of a crime of a sexual nature and where they live. The information includes a photo of the convicted offenders within town limits.
The information on the site is solely for the purpose of allowing people to educate themselves and their children concerning safety and awareness.
Police Chief Bob Yant wants people to know that “In no uncertain terms is this information to be used to harass a convicted sexual offender, to persecute them or their families in any way, or to be used to in any way other than information that helps people protect themselves and their families by being aware.”
“It is a felony for anyone to harass or persecute anyone that is listed on this or any site that lists sex offenders. People that use this information to do something like that will be charged,” said Yant.
It is also important for people to know that there are many different circumstances that would require someone to register as a sex offender.
The most serious of offenses would be categorized as a Sexually Violent Predator (SVP). An SVP is someone who has been convicted of a sex crime with other aggravating factors such as a high risk of re-offending, a person in a position of trust, violent behavior during the crime, or other special crime situations.
These convicted assailants are required to provide information, including their intended address, to authorities upon being released from serving their sentence. The jurisdictional law enforcement agency in the area that the convicted SVP is going to live must hold public educational meetings for the community so that people are aware when one of these SVPs are going to be living in their community.
There are no SVPs in the town limits of Cedaredge at this time. There are two SVPs in the unincorporated areas of Delta County.
Other reasons a person may be required to register as a sex offender include being convicted of statutory rape, any type of sex assault, public exposure, internet crimes that are of a sexual nature and other types of sex offenses.
“We don’t want people harassing the folks that have been convicted of these crimes. When that happens it makes them tend to go underground and not register. We want them to register. We want to know where they are and we want to make sure that they are not being discouraged from registering when they are supposed to register,” said Yant.
The idea is to help people with awareness. “Things like keeping an eye on your children, being aware of what is going on around you and reporting anything that looks suspicious to the police are all things that people can do,” said Yant.
To access the website, go to www.cedaredgecolorado.com. Click on Police Department under the contacts heading, and then on the Cedaredge Sex Offender tab. To access the CBI sex offender website, go to www.sor.state.co.us and go through the disclaimer. Both sites are also linking on mountainvalleynews.net.
