With Halloween just days away, Wyoming law enforcement agencies have drawn public attention to an online tool that can help families keep their children from going trick-or-treating and unwittingly ringing the doorbell at the home of a sex offender.

OffenderWatch provides the latest information on people who have been required to register as a sex offender after being convicted of a sex crime. The website for Natrona County has multiple options for those who wish to stay informed on the places sex offenders live and work, including an option to receive updates via email.

Before discussing how to use this website, a word of caution from the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation:

"Any person who uses information contained in or accessed through this website to threaten, intimidate, or harass any individual, including registrants or family members, or who otherwise misuses this information, may be subject to criminal prosecution."

To parse the legalise: don't use this website to find the homes of sex offenders so that you can harass or intimidate them or their family members. Anyone who does could find themselves facing criminal charges.

An easy way to use the site is by entering an address -- a residence or business, for example -- and a search radius. The search will produce a map of the sex offenders living within the specified radius of the address.

For more information on using the site and other search options, see the presentation available at the OffenderWatch page.

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