Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine has announced his office needs the public to help locate 173 sex offenders whose locations are currently unknown as they have not updated their details in the registry. Jill Del Greco, spokeswoman for the Attorney General's office said that currently the state does not know "where they're living, and it's important for people to look at the database and see who's in their area."
The 173 men and women whose locations are currently unknown to state authorities include people convicted for sex offenses ranging from compelling prostitution to engaging in unlawful sexual conduct with a minor. Each such individual's link on the sex offenders' registry includes personal identification details like hair color, eye color, age, etc., along with their photos and last known location. However, in the case of these people, their last location remains unknown.
The Ohio Attorney General's office has used their Facebook page to seek help from the public. The spokeswoman Del Greco said
Facebook "has proven to be a valuable tool in tracking down non compliant sex offenders," and confirmed, "We do get tips from the public."
Social media is today popular with law enforcement and agencies because of results. According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Facebook works admirably and
use of social media has yielded the highest found and return rate. In 2011, the NCMEC had stated, "The recovery rate of missing children found and returned is 96.5 percent today, compared to 60% in the 1980s."
The Franklin County Sheriff's Office has a website where sex offenders and other offenders can be searched in local areas and people can receive email alerts along with safety tips when an offender moves from one area to another. However, when the details are not updated, such systems fail to work, and this is why the Ohio Attorney General believes in using Facebook and the public's help in tracing sex offenders who have not updated their details.
