Bel Air Sex Offender Safety Map 2019

BEL AIR, MD — Before kids go out trick or treating on Halloween, take an inventory of who is living in your neighborhood. The Bel Air area currently has dozens of registered sex offenders listed on the Maryland Sex Offender Registry.

Law enforcement officials and researchers caution that the registries can play only a limited role in preventing child sexual abuse and stress that most perpetrators are known to the child.

Only about 10 percent of perpetrators of child sex abuse are strangers, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, which oversees the National Sex Offender Public Website.

An estimated 60 percent of perpetrators are known to the child but are not family members (e.g., family friends, babysitters, child care providers and others), while 30 percent of child victims are abused by family members. Nearly a quarter of the abusers are under the age of 18, the department estimates.

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Parents who want to check out the map for themselves can visit the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services website and search for sex offenders by distance from an address, county, zip code, name and school, to see if offenders are employed by or enrolled in any institutions. The tool allows users to start their searches in an area as small as a ¼ mile radius of the listed address and goes up to the 5-mile mark. Results can be displayed in list or map form.

There are no laws in Maryland regulating where sex offenders may live.

"Information put out by other states has shown that residency restrictions do not help to prevent sexual offenses from occurring because the victims and the offenders, in most situations, know each other. Having ready access to victims, in private and secretive environments, is how sex offenders thrive," Maryland corrections officials report.

Registered sex offenders are prohibited from entering property used for public or nonpublic elementary or secondary education as well as that of registered child care providers. Violating this rule is a misdemeanor, punishable by up to 5 years in jail and/or up to a $5,000 fine.

There are three tiers of sexual offenders in Maryland: one, two and three.

• Tier-three offenses have the most serious consequences and include false imprisonment of a minor, rape or attempted rape, sexual abuse of a minor and child kidnapping. Tier three offenders are on the sex offender registry for life and must register in person with a local law enforcement agency every three months.
• Tier-two offenses include distribution of child pornography, sexual solicitation of a minor and third-degree sex offenses. These offenders are on the sex offender registry for 25 years and must register in person with a local law enforcement agency every six months.
• Tier-one offenses include possession of child pornography, travel with intent to engage in illicit conduct, sex trafficking and visual surveillance with prurient intent. Tier one offenders are on the list for 15 years and must register in person with a local law enforcement agency every six months.

Sex offenders are required to register for various amounts of time in Maryland based on their conviction. In addition to providing information about where they live, work and/or attend school and what type of vehicle they drive, they must also register their email addresses and/or screen names with authorities.