County gets funds to help monitor sex offenders

8-1-2012 Maryland:

Calvert County was one of 24 jurisdictions in the state to recently receive a grant to help monitor sex offender compliance.

Calvert received $12,650 from the Sex Offender Compliance and Enforcement in Maryland grant program, according to a Governor’s Office of Crime Control and Prevention press release.

“There should be absolutely no mercy shown to anyone who harms a child in our state, and our laws impose the strictest standards of supervision to ensure that Maryland’s children are protected,” Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) said in a written statement. “Our laws monitoring sex offenders provide law enforcement and the residents of our communities the information they need to keep our neighborhoods safe from predators.”

Sgt. Tim Fridman of the Calvert County Sheriff’s Office said the grant funds will be used to help detectives enforce registry compliance and for detectives to conduct “verification sweeps” at registered offenders’ homes. He said the money also may be used to launch investigations through surveillance if officers receive a tip that an offender is not in compliance.

Fridman, who monitors all of the 131 registered sex offenders in the county, said officers check on the registered offenders at their homes at least twice a year.

“The Calvert County Sheriff’s Office is very proactive with our monitoring,” he said.

The amount of money the county received from the grant has, for the most part, “stayed consistent” the last few years, Fridman said. This year, Fridman said, he submitted an application for the grant and was fortunate to receive funds for he seventh year in a row. In years past, the grant funds have been used mostly to purchase surveillance equipment and to fund a civilian project manager, but due to budget cuts and receiving less grant money, this year’s funds will be used for enforcement purposes only.

“This money will be used for enforcement this year because of the rising number of sex offenders,” Fridman said, adding that the number of registered offenders has risen due to changes in the Maryland sex offender laws in 2010. Now, he said, anyone who is convicted of any sexual offense must register as such for certain amounts of time.

According to the press release, offenders found guilty of the most serious offenses, such as first- and second-degree rape, are required to re-register every three months for the rest of their lives. They are also under the constant supervision of specially trained, multidisciplinary teams throughout Maryland, known as Collaborative Offender Management/Enforced Treatment, the press release states.

Those found guilty of less serious offenses are required to register every six months for 25 years or annually for 15 years, depending on the severity of their crime, according to the press release, and offenders who say they are homeless are required to check in with local law enforcement once a week and let the authorities know where they can be found.

“We’ve been very successful in our compliance ... in the last few years,” Fridman said. “We do above and beyond what Maryland’s standards are for Calvert County.” ..Source.. by KATIE FITZPATRICK, Staff writer