Family Watchdog maps the addresses of registered sex offenders in your neighborhood or near your child’s school. Just type a location or address into the website’s search box, and Family Watchdog generates a map pinpointing the address of nearby registered sex offenders. If you’re looking for a specific individual, you can search for them by name.
Color-coded icons correspond to various sex crimes, including crimes against children, sexual battery, and rape. Click the icon, and you’ll see a picture of the offender, learn their aliases, and find out what sex crime they’ve been convicted of.
You can sign up for alerts whenever a registered sex offender moves in or out of your neighborhood through the website. In addition to detailed information about offenders, this online tool offers personal safety tips, facts about sexual abuse, and a comprehensive blog and newsletter.
Family Watchdog is a free service, but you’ll be sent off-site to a subscription service if you want detailed background reports about any offenders.
SpotCrime maps crimes on-site and delivers crime alerts to your email. It gathers data from more than just law enforcement agencies. It also collects information from news reports and user tips. You can even see a list of missing persons, crime stats, and cold cases in your area.
One of SpotCrime's best features is how user-friendly and highly visual it is, giving you a quick look at crime information in your neighborhood. Crimes are represented by icons that make it easy to see what activity takes place in your neighborhood.
When you click on an icon, you get the crime title, when and where it took place, and a link that directs you to the source where the data came from.