UTAH: Sex offender registry gets 60,000 hits on first day.

December 9, 2000

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- On its first day on the Web, the updated Department of Corrections' sex offender registry received almost 60,000 hits.

"The same thing happened in 1996 when some of the information became public," said Machelle Rodriguez, who oversees the sex offender registration program. "We were inundated with requests for the first couple months."

The database hit the Web on Thursday with updated photos, addresses, vehicles and convictions of the state's 4,700 convicted sex offenders.

Rodriguez noted that users searching the Bluffdale area will find a large number of sex offenders because it includes about 1,400 inmates at the state prison at Point of the Mountain.

The Web site was established in accordance with a Utah law that requires the Department of Corrections to make information on sex offenders available to the public. Until Thursday, the offenders' photos and vehicles were not listed on the Web site.

Corrections is also working on adding each sex offender's method to the registry.


Source: The Daily Herald Online