Supervisor Tony Hall: We Need Sex Offender Map

In 1994, a young New Jersey girl named Megan was brutally raped and murdered by a known sex offender who, unknown to Megan's family, had moved in across the street.

In the wake of Megan's death, many states - including California - passed legislation known as "Megan's Law." Megan's Law requires local police departments to maintain a database of known sex offenders and their whereabouts so parents can learn when a convicted sex offender moves into the neighborhood.

Unfortunately, Megan's Law doesn't go far enough. Indeed, while sex offender data is on file, it is often not widely available because it is kept at the local police station. In San Francisco, parents need to make an appointment to view the information.

Make no mistake, the men and women of the SF Police Department are to be commended for doing their best to provide information about sex offenders, but technology today is far more comprehensive than it was in 1994 when Megan's Law was first enacted. By making use of this technology, we can help parents get the information they need without violating the rights of those who have been convicted of a crime and paid their debt to society.

That is why I am working with the police department to improve the way we track convicted sex offenders in San Francisco, based on a model that is already in place in cities such as Los Angeles, San Diego and San Jose.

What these cities have done is create a "high-risk offender" map that is available to residents on the Internet.

In San Francisco, this map would have symbols identifying the general street location of the offender but would not represent the exact location where the offender lives.

The map would also include a picture of the high-risk offender and residents would also be able to search by zip code, supervisorial district and by street address to see if there are any offenders in their area.

With this information much more easily available, parents would be able to make informed decisions about their personal and family safety.

Megan's Law is a good first step, but with the technology available to us today we can - and should - do better.

Supervisor Tony Hall represents District 7.