OKLAHOMA CITY -
Recent high-profile
cases have put families on high alert about where sex offenders are in their
neighborhoods. Now, there's an app for that.
There are
more than 745,000 registered sex offenders in the United States and if one
moves next door, you can be alerted before the moving truck pulls off.
"AlertID" is
an online mobile service that sends an alert if someone with a sketchy past
moves into your neighborhood.
Elizabeth Reece,
a rape victim, says people should be aware.
"I think
that the entire public should know these things," Reece said.
7/13/12
Related Story: OKC Police Investigate Reported Rape Of 15-Year-Old Girl
But Attorney
David Slane says the AlertID gives homeowners a false sense of safety.
"If someone
is going to break the law, they are not going to break the law next door. They
are going to go somewhere else," said Slane.
It happened
to Reece. And her attacker didn't go far at all.
"I think
that's insane," Reece said.
When Reece
was a young girl, her father Roger Dale Stevens raped her. As a mother, she
wants others to be on alert when people like her father try and move on by
brushing a perverted past under the rug.
But registered
sex offender Denshio Cook calls it another tactic to scare people. Cook is a
father of three and had consensual sex when he was teen.
7/13/12
Related Story: New Suspect Named In April Sexual
Assault Of 4-Year-Old Creek County Girl
"I paid my price! I
paid my dues and you are still telling me I have to pay now? You are saying
that I have to pay for life?" said Cook.
"I live with it for a
life time. And if it happens to my kids, they live with it for a life time," Reece
responds.
The makers
of AlertID say it protects the innocent. But alerting someone on the registry
may be across the street is simply a bad idea, according to Slane.
"Parents
and families may say ‘Well, we are not getting any alerts. So we must be safe.'
When in reality people may visit. So I really think it doesn't have anything to
do about security," Slane said.
AlertID is
free and you can use it when you travel too.
Learn more about AlertID.
"AlertID" is an online mobile service that sends an alert if someone with a sketchy past moves into your neighborhood.
