Megan's Law Report Card. All 50 States

**Well I found this so far** January 2005 Progress Report on the National AMBER Alert Strategy This is the fourth progress report since the October 2002, first-ever White House Conference on Missing, Exploited, and Runaway Children, when President Bush directed the Attorney General to designate a Justice Department official to lead the effort in expanding the AMBER Alert system nationwide. Deborah J. Daniels, Assistant Attorney General for Office of Justice Programs, was appointed by Attorney General John Ashcroft to serve as the first National AMBER Alert Coordinator. With the assistance of victims, law enforcement, broadcasters, missing children clearinghouses, and officials from the Departments of Justice and Transportation, Deborah Daniels has steered the national strategy in a direction designed to reach the goal of creating a seamless network for AMBER Alerts. The substantial increase in the number of recovered children since the strategy was put in place is evidence that the national coordination is working well. More than 185 children have been recovered since AMBER Alert began in 1996. Over 80 percent of the total number of successful recoveries to date has occurred since October 2002, when AMBER Alert became a coordinated national effort. This significant progress is attributable to better coordination and training at every level, increased public awareness, technological advances, and cooperation among law enforcement, transportation officials, and broadcasters. The collaboration of communities, states and territories, coming together to create and improve their AMBER plans, has also made a remarkable difference in the number of abducted children recovered. At the end of 2001, there were only four statewide plans, and now 49 states have statewide plans in place. Many interstate collaborations have developed, foiling abductors who seek to evade capture by crossing state lines. PROGRESS REPORT to date: Together with our partners in communities throughout the country, we have accomplished the implementation of the national strategy: $ Assess current AMBER activity < Determined status of local, statewide, and regional AMBER plans to identify national trends, characteristics, and current procedures. < Evaluated available technology and developed AMBER Alert draft technology standards to promote cooperation among state communications systems. < Held the first-ever AMBER Alert Technology Conference in December 2003 which provided 65 state and local AMBER coordinators access to new technology to enhance AMBER communications. A conference report is posted on the Department of Justice AMBER Alert Web site: amberalert.gov. < Developed an implementation plan to monitor, report, and track national AMBER Alert progress and changes. $ Create a coordinated AMBER network < Provided training and guidance on plan development and enhancement for law enforcement, broadcasters, and transportation representatives through regional summits and missing children training courses. < Established federal, state, and local partnerships and promoted agreements among states and communities to develop a seamless communication network. < Partnered with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to convene the first Southeast Conference on Missing and Exploited Children, held in June 2004 (AMBER Alert component included in the training). < Provided criteria guidance on issuance of AMBER Alerts, available on the AMBER Alert Web site: amberalert.gov < Created a mechanism for secondary distribution of AMBER Alerts through agreements between the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and nationally known communication companies. < Established operational AMBER Alert statewide plans in 49 states. < Worked with the FBI in developing proper usage of the existing child abduction identifier and the creation of a new AMBER Alert identifier for use by law enforcement to enter information into the National Crime Information Center database. • Communicate "lessons learned" < Held the first-ever National Training Conference on AMBER Alert in August 2003, which brought together teams from every state to receive training, help with AMBER plan development, and best practices information. < Presented the national strategy at over 37 conferences held by broadcasters, law enforcement, and juvenile justice organizations. < Held a meeting in February 2004 with national and state broadcasters and media representatives, obtaining input into a process for expanding and enhancing the AMBER Alert system from a broadcaster/media perspective. < Raised public awareness through the creation of a national AMBER Alert web site and made it more accessible by assigning a new URL: amberalert.gov < Made media appearances; created training videos; and produced and distributed an AMBER Alert strategy brochure. < Expanded the AMBER Alert Web site to include a “Toolkit” of resource material for use in commemorating National Missing Children’s Day. < Worked with America’s Most Wanted on finalizing public service announcements on missing and abducted children for wide distribution in television, radio, print, and Internet media. < Integrated AMBER Alert information into existing training programs and publications. < Made available on the AMBER Alert Web site a Department of Transportation “best practices@ report on the use of Dynamic Message Signs to convey AMBER Alert information. < Convened the second National Training Conference on AMBER Alert in September 2004, to share best practices and receive strategy input from every state, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. < Transmitted a report to the White House on the implementation of the AMBER Alert legislation, the activities of the National Coordinator, and the effectiveness and status of the AMBER plans of each state. PLANS FOR 2005 $ Implement next steps based on input from the September 2004 training conference. $ Commemorate the abduction of Amber Hagerman on January 13, 1996 and honor her legacy by raising awareness about AMBER Alert. $ Conduct an increased number of regional summits and localized training specific to the needs of communities. $ Prepare a report to the Congress on the implementation of the AMBER Alert legislation, the activities of the National Coordinator, and the effectiveness and status of the AMBER plans of each state. $ Help to improve communications among state AMBER Alert coordinators through creative use of the Internet, and develop a newsletter to include information about technologies and success stories. $ Finalize guides on AMBER Alert practices and procedures designed for a variety of audiences. $ Create an AMBER Alert Fact Sheet brochure for use at public events. $ Train law enforcement officers on the proper usage of the Child Abduction and AMBER Alert identifiers in entering information into the National Crime Information Center database, and develop an instructional fact sheet and card as reference resources for officers. AMBER Alert Progress 1999 to date Year /Number of Recovered Children /Number of Statewide AMBER Plans Implemented 1999 8 1 2000 8 1 2001 2 2 2002 26 28 2003 72 14 2004 71 2 2005 1 0 Total 188 49 updated 1/12/05 Amber Progress **Any Comments lol**

NY Gets A "D" On Megan's Law Report Card Last Update: 5/11/2006 6:34:50 PM Posted By: Sean Carroll Elmira Sex offenders that pose a risk to you, and your children, are going untracked, unmonitored, and missing in New York State. That's a big reason why Parents for Megan's Law gave New York a "D" on its annual report card when it comes to sex offender laws and enforcement. Ralph Stilson, a level 3 sex offender, the most serious kind, has managed to hide from his neighbors, and police, for more than a year now. Parents for Megan's Law, a national advocacy group, claims Stilson's story is all to common in this country. Because of loopholes in laws and problems enforcing them, predators like Stilson continue to pose a risk to you, and your children. WETM-18 News put the New York State Sex Offender Registry to the test by trying to verify the address of every registered sex offender in the 14901 zip code. What we found was that one man, Ralph Stilson, moved out of this apartment more than a year ago. Even though he'd moved, Elmira Police say he continued to register himself at 316 W. Gray Street, Apt. 7-A. "He'd been, all along, coming in reporting where he lived," Elmira Police Chief Scott Drake said. "We have sex offenders that are being required, on an honor system, the most cunning of all criminals, on an honor system to register themselves," Laura Ahearn, the director of Parents for Megan's Law said. Ahearn is one of those people who isn't surprised that a man like Stilson managed to go missing. "When it comes to an offender who's failing to register, we found across the nation, about 24% of the nation's registered sex offenders aren't complying with individual state laws." A fact that remains true here in New York, according to Ahearn. "New York State continues to do poorly on our report card because New York State does not have a requirement to notify under the law." Notifying the public of where registered sex offenders are living is one of many flaws Ahearn and her group see in how states enforce Megan's Law. In fact, 33 states in the U.S. received a grade of "D" or "F" on this years Parents for Megan's Law report card. Pennsylvania and New York were two of eight states that got a "D." Ahearn said states get bad grades for a number of reasons. -Many online sex offender registries fail to include all levels of sex offenders. In New York and Pennsylvania only the most serious offenders, level 3's, are listed online. -Local police aren't forced to do door-to-door notification when an offender moves in nearby. In some states and local municipalities a door-knocking campaign by local police is actually required. -Local police don't have the funding and resources they need to track offenders. In New York and other states Megan's Law is an unfunded mandate which means police agencies are expected to track offenders with little to no funding from state or federal agencies. "Local law enforcement has a very difficult job, Ahearn explained. They're being expected to monitor the whereabouts of these guys without any additional resources from local government." Although that's true in many parts of New York, Long Island is an exception. Because of pressure from Parents for Megan's Law, which is headquartered in Stony Brook, Long Island, local laws and enforcement policies on Long Island have changed. Now when a registered sex offender moves into a neighborhood, people living nearby are notified immediately. "If you live on Long Island you are guaranteed that you will be notified anytime a level 2 or a level 3 sex offender moves into your community, Ahearn explained. Because we have had to change local laws, one at a time, to get police to send out this information." Elmira Police Chief Scott Drake has another idea. He thinks a federal sex offender law is the best way to keep sex offenders from going missing. "To me, it's the best thing they can do, Drake said. Right now you have all these different states with all these different laws. They need to make the law the same, that way there's no benefit for a sex offender from Florida moving to New York State." To view the Parents for Megan's Law Annual Report Card you can visit their website at www.parentsformeganslaw.com A direct link to the organizations report card: http://www.parentsformeganslaw.com/html/links.lasso http://www.wetmtv.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=A3FED520-E3E0-4BEB-96BE-2CF5E12C7AC4

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