Duplin eyes sex offenders
By Steve Herring
Published in News on November 27, 2014 1:34 AM
KENANSVILLE -- More than 50 law enforcement officers from the Duplin County Sheriff's Office, the U.S. Marshal Service and the Department of Public Safety Division of Community Correction swept across the county early Tuesday to verify the registration compliance of all registered sex offenders.
Dubbed "Operation Not on My Watch," the effort enabled officers to contact most of the offenders on their list between 6 a.m. and noon.
"The operation was to make sure that the registered sex offenders were living at the proper address, that they were not in contact with children or close to schools, and that they were not in possession of child pornography or things that may have violated the conditions of their post convictions," Sheriff Blake Wallace said at a Wednesday press conference.
"This mission was undertaken to protect the children of our county and to prevent any predators from preying on our young folks. Because that mission is something that we all strongly agreed upon, this happened."
There are 97 registered sex offenders in the county, 14 of whom are either in prison or jail, Wallace said. Officers were able to contact 60 of the other 83 in face-to face meetings. They were able to contact 74 of 83 by 10 a.m. Tuesday either face-to-face or by phone.
Deputies will follow up with the other nine. Some could have been at work at the time of the unannounced visit, Wallace said.
The issue of sex offenders is no more of problem in Duplin County than anywhere else, but it is something that must be dealt with on a regular basis, Wallace said.
Notices were left at the residences of offenders who were not at home at the time of the visit, instructing them to contact the Sheriff's Office to verify their residential address.
"This is the first time that we have done this collectively," Wallace said. "We do monitor our sex offenders on a regular basis. But we thought it would be a great opportunity to show the offenders and the community that this is something that we take very seriously, and we are going to continue to monitor it. It is just another weapon in our arsenal to ensure that our children are safe.
"This is something that we will do in the future again. We did not have any problems. We did not have any resistance. We had one individual out of all that we checked who may not be in compliance, but that requires a little further investigation on our part. If he is not, then he will be charged criminally. Again, I think it sends a message to the offenders that they had better be doing what the are supposed be doing, and if they don't, then we will be coming after them."
Eastern North Carolina District U.S. Marshal Scott Parker praised the sheriff's office and Wallace's leadership and how well the three agencies worked together.
"We all came together as one," he said. "The purpose of this mission was to make sure that the children of Duplin County are safe and show that we all care about these children. The personnel from all three agencies worked together and made sure the job was done.
"I want each of us to remember that the personnel who worked, they were up at 6 o'clock in the morning when most were home sleeping the men and women of these three agencies were out knocking on doors."
People need to keep in mind that it was a dangerous job, Parker said.
"They left their families home in bed and went out and put their lives on the line for the citizens of Duplin County," he said. "That just shows the type of people you have in law enforcement in this area."