Your trick-or-treat path could lead straight to sex offender’s front door

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) –  It’s spooky season, and a scary reality might go unnoticed. Your trick-or-treat path could lead straight to a sex offender’s front door.

“Mississippi doesn’t have laws that pertain to sex offenders and what they can and can’t do during Halloween or the holiday season. We want parents to be vigilant and be aware,” said Lowndes County Sheriff Eddie Hawkins.

Hawkins warned parents to be observant when protecting their children.

It could prevent a child from knocking on a predator’s door.

“Don’t let your children go trick or treating by themselves. Have a plan. You know before you go out on your route to do trick or treating with your children, take a look at the sex offender registry. And know where these people live and make sure you’re not going to the wrong houses because the last thing we want is for a child to be approached by a sex offender in the wrong areas,” said Hawkins.

Hawkins said you’re one tap away from getting the resources you need with the Lowndes County Sheriffs Department app.

“You can go to the app and look on the app and actually pull up the Mississippi Sex Offender Registry. Then you can geographically to an area you want to go trick or treating in and you can see which houses sex offenders actually live in,” said Hawkins.

You may be surprised to know how many sex offenders live in your neighborhood. In fact, we checked and there are 21 registered sex offenders within a one-mile radius of the station.

Concerned parents outside of Lowndes County have different resources at their disposal.

The Apple app store and Google Play store have multiple apps that will provide easy access to your state’s registry.

Regardless of where you live, the sheriff says you need to be on the lookout.

“Right now in Lowndes County, we have 132 registered sex offenders living here in Lowndes County. So if you’re out knocking on doors trick or treating tonight, be aware of your surroundings and know where these sex offenders live, and don’t send your children in areas where those sex offenders live,” said Hawkins.

The Lowndes County Sheriff’s Department will be amping up its patrol units for extra security on Halloween.

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