Keeping track of the whereabouts of 55 registered sex offenders living in Limestone County is a full-time job, according to Sheriff Mike Blakely.

The sheriff addressed the County Commission in a budget hearing Monday, asking members to fund a full-time staff investigator/sex offender registrar for his department.

“It is of the utmost importance that an accurate location be maintained on these individuals for the safety of our citizens,” said Blakely. “This is even more important due to recent events where sex offenders have committed new offenses.”

Local and state law enforcement agencies are charged with registering and keeping tabs on convicted sex offenders under the mandates of the federal Megan’s Law. The legislation was passed in 1996 authorizing local law enforcement agencies to notify the public about convicted sex offenders living, working or visiting their communities.

Megan’s Law was inspired by the case of 7-year-old Megan Kanka, a New Jersey girl who was raped and killed by a known child molester who moved across the street from the family. The Kanka family fought to have local communities warned about sex offenders in the area. In 1996, the U.S. Congress passed Megan’s Law, requiring every state to develop some procedure for notifying the public when a sex offender is released into their community.

“We also are being contacted by citizens as well as other agencies on a regular basis requesting that we check on an individual that may be living in this county who is not registered,” said Blakely. “This requires that the person be located and background check be completed to see if he has been convicted of a sex crime.”

Blakely said that once a sex offender registers and provides an address, an officer must go out and make sure that the address complies with Megan’s Law guidelines.

“If so, letters must be sent to residents within a 2,000-foot radius of the location given and notify them of the offender’s intention to live at that address.”

The number of letters depends on the population density of the given address. Schools and day care centers must also be notified.

“The offender also has to come to the office bi-annually (every two years) to re-register and whenever their address changes or their employment changes,” said the sheriff. “Currently, we have no person assigned to track and follow up on these individuals due to the other duties that our investigators are assigned on a daily basis.”

Blakely’s request for an investigator/sex offender registrar was among his requests for five new correctional officers, camera upgrades ($70,000); inmate extraction equipment ($3,500); ID/Security Card equipment ($9,283); and officer training, $17,000.

The sheriff also requested a 10-percent across-the-board raise for employees, which he said was necessary to keep his department competitive with Athens Police Department. He also requested 10 new patrol cars to begin replacing 16 in his department with more than 100,000 miles. His budget request also included $27,500 in data processing equipment for the Sheriff’s Department and $14,200 in data processing equipment for the jail.