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Published on 01/12/1998 All articles from this issue

Sex offender CD-ROM continues to draw residents

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By Joanne Griffith Domingue

Town Crier Staff Writer

Parents, grandparents, friends, neighbors and school officials continue to trek to the Los Altos Police Department to view the CD-ROM with information about registered sex offenders.

Six months after the information became available to the public last July 1 as a result of Megan's Law, people are still looking up information on sex offenders.

There are six serious sex offenders who live in the Los Altos area, three in the 94022 zip code and three in the 94024 zip code. All are men.

Of those who come to see the CD-ROM, "Some are suspicious of people who live around them," said Sally Mandle, a city volunteer who staffs the computer and CD- ROM.

"Some wonder if there's a sexual offender in the classroom. Some have come about neighbors renting a room and wondering about the people they might rent to. Most of the time people don't know what they're looking for," she said.

And some, like the Los Altos School District, came in "and checked to see if any on their list were in there. They went through several hundred names," Mandle said.

"I'm so glad they did," said Los Altos Police Chief Lucy Carlton. "We've heightened the awareness in the community. This is one more program available to our community, and I'm proud to have it."

The Los Altos Police Department makes the CD-ROM available from 1-2 p.m. on Thursdays, for a 15-minute appointment.

The calendar is not always full, said Sgt. Mark Macaulay. "But at least one or two have come in each week," he said, since it became available.

Information on the CD-ROM is updated every three months by the California Department of Justice. This reporter last viewed the CD-ROM in July. Since then, "one of the serious offenders moved out" of the area, Macaulay said. But a look at the CD last week showed that another has moved in or been convicted and added to the list.

A viewer may access information by name or zip code. No addresses of the registrants are given, but there is a color picture of five of the six. The person could be in custody. The charges for which he was convicted are listed.

Megan's Law was spurred by the rape and murder of 7-year-old Megan Kanka, a New Jersey girl, by a twice-convicted sex offender who had just moved into her neighborhood.

For more information, call the Los Altos Police Department at 948-8223. Or call the state sex offender identification line, 1-900-463-0400.