Orem firm's Web map pinpoints sex offenders

OREM — Mark Olsen was surprised to learn that one of his neighbors is a registered sex offender.

Olsen didn't get the information about the man from the state's online registry of sex offenders — he got it from a new, privately operated Web site.

The site — www.mapsexoffenders.com — shows the addresses of registered sex offenders on an interactive map. It is designed and maintained by Orbizon, an Orem-based Web development company where Olsen is an account manager.

Olsen said the site, which went online for a beta test Wednesday, has already opened his eyes. "I looked all around Orem," he said, "and there's offenders all around our schools."

The site takes information from the Utah Department of Corrections' sex-offender registry and plugs it into up-to-date mapping software. Links to the state registry allow users to see pictures of the offenders and the crimes they committed.

Under the federal statute known as Megan's Law, all states are required to maintain a registry of sex offenders and notify the public when they are released from jail. Utah is one of 47 states that employs an online database with such information.

But only four states — California, Ohio, Washington and South Dakota — have online maps of sex offender residences.

Olsen said his company's new site is a simplified way to search through information on the state's Web site — www.cr.ex.state.ut.us/community/sexoffenders — where users can search by ZIP code to get a list of all the registered offenders in the area and their addresses.

"We're not the ones who created the information, we're just making it easier to use," Olsen said.

Jack Ford, a spokesman for the Utah Department of Corrections, said he was impressed by Orbizon's site. "I pulled up my house and there was a red dot about a block away and another a couple blocks away," he said. "I had looked at my ZIP code before, but I had never coordinated it like that."

Ford said he was concerned when he pulled a name at random from his records and searched it, only to find that the new private Web site did not have a picture of the offender. However, he said it was most likely a minor technical error.

Ford did say he hopes people won't use the site for the wrong reasons.

"I don't want this to give people a false sense of security," he said. "Don't look at this site and say, 'I'm safe, I know where you all are.' "

Ford said nearly half of Utah's registered sex offenders did not commit their crimes against children.