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September 09, 2005
Southeast Louisiana 3,000 registered sex offenders
BATON ROUGE -- Among the tens of thousands of people evacuated from southeastern Louisiana because of Hurricane Katrina are some 3,000 registered sex offenders.
The seven parishes with the most damage and displaced people from the hurricane and flooding have 3,080 registered sex offenders and sexual predators, including 1,405 in Orleans Parish, according to the Louisiana State Police sex offender registry.
Florida has a hurricane policy that requires certain registered sex offenders to ride out a storm in jail, but Louisiana has no policy in regard to sex offenders during hurricanes or evacuations. That means those registered in the system could end up in shelters or communities across Louisiana and in other states.
"There's no statute in Louisiana to require them to be reincarcerated," said Capt. Jerry Patrick of the Louisiana State Police.
The sex offender registry is as close to real time as possible, Patrick said. That means that shelters and communities that take in evacuees can check people's names against the state or national sex offender registry. Those officials should use available state and national resources if they have concerns, Patrick said.
Posted by Nealus at September 9, 2005 09:55 PM
