October 28, 2005

Governor Encourages Parents to Use “SAFE Tip” Hotline, Sex Offender Registry to Keep Kids Safe this Halloween Season

State Takes Steps to Restrict Sex Offenders’ Activities on Halloween

With this year’s Halloween season approaching, Governor Doyle today encouraged parents to make use of resources available, including the sex offender registry and the “SAFE Tip” hotline, to help protect kids and communities from sex offenders.

“On Halloween and every day, it is important that we are working together to do everything that we can to keep our kids safe,” Governor Doyle said. “As the state works to restrict the activities of sex offenders this Halloween, I encourage parents to make use of the sex offender registry to learn more about sex offenders in their area, and use the ‘SAFE Tip’ hotline to report any violations.”

Each Halloween, sex offenders under the supervision of the Department of Corrections are prohibited from handing out candy or answering their doors to Trick-or-Treaters. They are prohibited from attending any Halloween events where children may be present. Further, many sex offenders are prohibited by the Department of Corrections from having any unsupervised contact with children – on Halloween or any day of the year.

Governor Doyle encouraged citizens witnessing any violations of these rules to use the toll-free “SAFE Tip” hotline to contact the Department of Corrections to report the violation, or contact local law enforcement if the situation is an emergency. The “SAFE Tip” hotline and email address were established as part of the Governor’s Sex Offender Accountability and Felony Enforcement (SAFE) Initiative to provide members of the public a way to report tips about noncompliant sex offenders to Department of Corrections authorities. In addition, citizens can also use the hotline to ask questions about the sex offender registry and provide information about any incorrect data they find on the website. The “SAFE Tip” hotline is 1-877-234-0085, and the “SAFE Tip” email address is docsafetips@doc.state.wi.us.

Further, as parents plan Trick-or-Treating routes, Governor Doyle encouraged parents to consult Wisconsin’s sex offender registry website to learn more about sex offenders living in their areas. Parents can search for registered offenders by zip code or name, and access information including updated, enlargeable photographs of the offender's face, physical descriptions, conviction information, compliance status, and in cases where the sex offender is still under some form of supervision, the contact information for the agency supervising the sex offender. The sex offender registry website also has information about sex offender laws and rules of supervision, as well as educational resources to help reduce the risk of sexual violence. As part of Governor Doyle’s SAFE Initiative, the Department of Corrections will begin publishing residential addresses of sex offenders for the first time by December 1, 2005. Citizens can access the registry online at: http://WIDOCOffenders.org.

In September 2005, Governor Doyle announced his SAFE Initiative, a comprehensive agenda to keep Wisconsin kids and communities safe from sex offenders. SAFE involves state, local, and federal partners focused on keeping kids safe by holding sex offenders accountable for their actions, preventing them from becoming anonymous in our communities, and apprehending and prosecuting those sex offenders who fail to notify authorities of their whereabouts, as required by law.

In addition to the SAFE Tip hotline and providing address information sex offender registry, other components of the SAFE Initiative include the following:

Governor Doyle is directing the Department of Corrections and the Department of Health and Family Services to place all of the state’s most dangerous sexual offenders – those sexually violent persons who had been involuntarily committed and placed on supervised release in the community under the Wisconsin’s Sexual Predator Law (Chapter 980) – on GPS monitoring. Governor Doyle is also calling for legislation to ensure that future sex offenders committed under the Chapter 980 law would be subject to lifetime GPS surveillance, even if a court eventually orders their release from supervision. In addition, Governor Doyle has directed DOC to begin placing other serious child sex offenders who are released from state correctional facilities on GPS monitoring. Using a combination of state and federal resources, the state will use GPS technology to monitor approximately 200 sex offenders.

Governor Doyle is convening a statewide “SAFE Task Force” comprised of state, local, and federal law enforcement officials and representatives from DOC and OJA with the goal of improving Wisconsin’s sex offender registry and tracking down those offenders who fail to comply with the registry requirements. The Task Force will coordinate statewide efforts in investigating, locating, apprehending, and prosecuting sex offenders who try to become anonymous from Wisconsin law enforcement agencies and citizens. The SAFE Task Force is co-chaired by Outagamie County Sheriff Brad Gehring and DOC Deputy Secretary and former Dane County Sheriff Rick Raemisch.

Governor Doyle has formed SAFE teams, comprised of retired law enforcement professionals and DOC officials, to locate and hold accountable those sex offenders who have failed to register with the state as required by law. The SAFE Teams employ a variety of investigatory tactics and tools to locate noncompliant sex offenders, and provide the evidence needed by law enforcement to locate the offender and make an arrest. At a time when law enforcement is faced with many important priorities to keep our communities safe, the sole mission of SAFE Teams is to track down sex offenders and work with law enforcement to apprehend, arrest, and prosecute them.

“Wisconsin’s sex predator laws and penalties are among the toughest in the nation,” Governor Doyle said. “But keeping our kids safe is a never-ending job. We must remain vigilant, and we must keep improving our system for finding, prosecuting, and tracking these predators.”

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