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Florida Sex Offender Registry Unveils New Campus Search

TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami) – There are more than 60,000 sex offenders and predators on the state's Sex Offender Registry—and more than 600 have active registration involving college or higher learning institutions.

The Florida Sex Offender Registry if offering a new campus search that allows citizens to look for sex offenders living, working, or going to school on campuses and institutions of higher learning in the state.

"To enhance public safety and in the spirit of cooperation, the Florida Legislature, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and Florida Sheriffs have created greater public awareness of sexual predators on our post-secondary campuses," said sponsor Senator Eleanor Sobel.

Sobel sponsored the legislation, and the money was allocated for funding for FDLE to create the University search as part of the existing public website registry, http://offender.fdle.state.fl.us/offender/homepage.do.

Sex offenders are required by the state of Florida to report higher education enrollment, employment or vocational activities to their local sheriff's offices. The information is then given to the institution or university, as well as the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, for inclusion in the public on-line registry.

"It's important that each of us remains aware of our surroundings," said FDLE Commissioner Gerald Bailey.  "With that in mind, the sex predator/offender campus-search function is a valuable source of public safety information."

With the new University Search, citizens can obtain a list of all sex offenders at a particular institution or campus. Also included are links that include the offender's photo, offense, as well as their residential information.

FDLE is encouraging all campuses to add the sex offender registry link to their school's website so that students, faculty and parents alike can take advantage and be aware of the new feature.

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