Knowing your neighbors becomes more important than ever when one of them is a convicted sexual offender.

Ohio’s version of Megan’s Law, which notifies the neighbors of convicted sexual offenders of the offenders’ presence in the neighborhood, attempts to heighten neighbors’ awareness to sexual predators living nearby.

Following the passage of amended legislation in May, the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office is required to send letters to anyone living within a 1,000-foot radius of someone who has been deemed by the courts as a sexual predator or habitual sex offender, said Detective Keith Semones of the Franklin County Sheriff’s Sexual Offender Registration Unit.

Additionally, the sheriff’s office maintains a Web site where addresses and photographs of sexual predators and habitual sex offenders are displayed. The Web site also describes the nature of the offenders’ crime and the classification of the offender.

Searching by ZIP code, any individual can find out if and where sexual offenders live in their neighborhood.

The 43201 ZIP code, which includes the area just east of Ohio State’s campus, has four registered offenders within its boundaries. The 43205 ZIP code has 15, the most registered sex offenders in Franklin County.

“Offenders the courts decide are sexual predators or habitual offenders must notify of us of their address every 90 days,” Semones said. “Once (the offenders) file a permanent residence with us, we physically send people out to verify that the individual is living there.”

Semones said that the offender must re-register every 90 days because many recently-released convicts tend to live in apartment complexes, which have a high turnover rate.

“Despite (the high turnover), we keep pretty good tabs on those registered – 99.9 percent of the released offenders are on post-release control with a parole officer, as well as registering with us,” he said.

Offenders classified as a “sexual predator” by the courts are subject to registration requirements for life and community notification and address verification every 90 days.

Offenders classified as “habitual sex offenders” by the courts are subject to registration requirements for 20 years after their release. The sentencing judge determines whether a habitual sex offender is subject to community notification.

The requirements did not go into effect until July 1, 1997. Anyone released prior to that date is not required to register with the Sheriff’s Office.

According to the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, their sexual offender database averages about 4,800 hits per month.

“We get calls all the time from people who didn’t know someone in their neighborhood was a predator,” Semones said.

Of Ohio’s 88 counties, 35 county sheriff’s offices have Web sites which list sexual predators and habitual offenders in their counties, said Bret Crow, spokesman for Ohio Attorney General Betty Montgomery.

Crow also said as of Oct. 24, there are 8,754 sexual offenders registered in Ohio.

None of the sexual offenders registered on the Franklin County Web site live in the on-campus 43210 ZIP code.

University Police Chief Ron Michalec said if a situation arose in which a sexual offender moved onto campus in the residence halls, the sheriff’s office would be responsible for notifying students of the sexual predator.

“Our Web site is currently set up so that it links to the sheriff’s Web site where the sexual offender database is found,” Michalec said.

Whenever a sexual offender moves near the university district, Michalec said the Office of the President and OSU police receive notification.

Occasionally, neighbors of convicted sexual offenders try to force them to leave once they are notified an offender is living in their vicinity.

“Pressures can be extremely harsh against offenders,” Semones said. “It is definitely difficult to establish themselves once the community notification hits. People don’t want sexual predators living around them.”

Megan’s Law is named after Megan Kanka, a 7-year-old New Jersey girl who was killed in July 1994 by a twice-convicted sex offender. In 1996, President Bill Clinton signed the federal Megan’s Law, requiring all states to disclose information to the public about sexual offenders.

Franklin County’s sexual offender registry database can be found on the Internet at www.sherriff.franklin.oh.us.