Nearly 4,500 People Now On CT Sex Offender Registry

MIDDLETOWN — The Connecticut Sex Offender Registry completed registrations on 355 new registered sex offenders during the 2006 calendar year, bringing the total number of sex offenders in the State of Connecticut to 4,461.

Of the 4,461 registrants 809, are incarcerated with the Department of Correction. Incarcerated registrants are now listed on the registry website with a residential address of the Department of Correction.

Of the 4,461 registered sex offenders, 400 were individuals who have been convicted in foreign jurisdictions, such as federal, military, or other state courts, that have moved into Connecticut or work or attend schools within the state. Connecticut law requires persons convicted in a foreign jurisdiction of a crime that is substantially the same as a crime that requires registration in Connecticut to register with the Sex Offender Registry Unit within ten days of residing in Connecticut. Persons that violate this law are subject to arrest for a Class D felony.

In 2006 the Sex Offender Registry Unit completed 345 investigative reports on registrants who have failed to verify their address. These reports were forwarded to the local law enforcement agencies where the registrants last reported residing. The local law enforcement agencies utilize the investigative reports to obtain arrest warrants for those registrants in violation. Persons required to register under Connecticut’s sex offender registry laws must verify their address every 90 days. The registrants have ten days to return an address verification form to the Sex Offender Registry or face arrest for a Class D felony.

There are currently 458 registrants who have failed to verify their address in Connecticut. Troopers assigned to the registry unit were able to reduce the number of Not In Compliance cases from 26 in 2005 to 19 in 2006. Persons designated as Not in Compliance are required to register although they have never registered with the registry since it was started in 1998.

The Connecticut Sex Offender Registry website had over nine million hits on registered sex offenders living, working, or attending schools in the state in 2006. Information can be searched on the website by last name, town, zip code, or by viewing an entire list of registrants. The information is provided free of charge and persons making inquiries do not have to identify themselves.

Anyone with questions regarding the registration of sex offenders in Connecticut or who has information on a registered sex offender who appears to be in violation is asked to contact the Connecticut Department of Public Safety, Division of State Police, Sex Offender Registry Unit at 1111 Country Club Road, Middletown CT 06457-9294, by phone 860-685-8060, or by email at sex.offender.registry@po.state.ct.us. Registry records are also available at local police departments for registrants living within that department’s jurisdiction.

To access the Connecticut Sex Offender Registry website, the address is state.ct.us/dps.