TX- Sex Offenders: Tracking Em' Down (Those on probation/parole)

8-15-2008 Texas:

The Nueces County Probation Department has a new way to keep track of sex offenders. They now can monitor every mouse click and every stroke of the keyboard.

A zip drive and a CD-ROM are changing the way sex offenders are monitored. It's called the Field Search Program, and was designed by a government worker for use in a forensic search of a hard drive.

Sex Offenders when they're on probation might be permitted by the court to have computer and Internet access, but they're not allowed to visit sites like MySpace and other social networking sites. The fear is they'll be tempted to entice children or other potential victims.

Sydney Morris is part of the probation department's Sex Offender Unit. She tells Kiii News there was one search where the offender had an inappropriate photo of a minor. It was actually Vanity Fair's photo of pop sensation Miley Cyrus.

"Conditions include not having possession of pornography," said Morris. "Pornography for us, is whatever gets the sex offender in trouble, and that photo happened to be of a 15 year old."

In addition to the computer field searches, the sex offender unit also contracts with a company just north of Austin. The company uses retired law enforcement officers, who remotely download software to a sex offender's computer, and monitor the offenders' real-time activity.

-In the video it says, this happens AFTER a field agent finds something inapprpriate in a home check.

If those sex offenders seem to be violating the terms of their probation an alert goes out, and in the end they might end up in jail for violating the terms of their probation.

"The offenders will know that we're able to go in and search the computer." said Morris.

"Maybe it'll help them monitor their behavior because it's important for a sex offender in treatment to know how to self regulate." ..News Source.. by KIIITV News