- Operation Thin Ice recently contributed to the arrest of 10 sex offenders in Wakulla County this month.
- Mapping systems can help you locate if there are offenders near you.
Watch the video to find out how to check if there's any in your neighborhood.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
This was the last phase of Operation Thin Ice, an initiative to hold sexual offenders and predators accountable when they fail to report required information about their status.
I went to the Wakulla County Sheriff’s Office website to the see how many registered sex offenders are in the area. This map shows there are 74 in Crawfordville and 11 in Panacea currently.
You can type in an address using the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s website to find out if there are offenders nearby. For example, I looked up how many are near the Wakulla County Sheriff’s Office and this is what came up.
Lieutenant Jeff Yarbrough with the Wakulla County Sheriff’s Office says the maps played a key role in monitoring offenders in the area.
“Maps are everything for what we do so being able to make sure our computer maps in our cars are up-to-date or the county map that we use and emergency 911. They’re all based off of these systems in mapping and so it was instrumental in that.”
Yarbrough says they regularly check for those who have failed to register.
“When we start to see that we have people that are not complying or you know not following up the way they should whether it’s part of an operation or not there’s gonna be a warrant cut and they’re going to be arrested. It just so happen this time that we know we had a bundle of a people.”
Yarbrough says there’s no threat to the community and they will continue to keep, "looking after the well-being of children in our community, and making sure the community is as safe as possible.”
Yarbrough recommends neighbors use the mapping systems to make themselves aware.
