Baltimore County police will receive more than $100,000 in state funds to revamp their electronic equipment used to register and track sex offenders, Gov. Robert Ehrlich announced Tuesday in Dundalk.
The county?s share of $800,000 awarded to police and sheriffs? departments around the state also will pay officers overtime to conduct verifications that sex offenders are where they say they are, Ehrlich said.
“All of these provisions go to two twin goals,” Ehrlich said.
“Protecting our kids today and, should an incident occur, tracking down the perpetrator and locking away the perpetrator for a long time.”
Ehrlich also announced more than 1,000 Marylanders have registered with what he called the state?s innovative Alert Line, an automated telephone service that contacts homes, schools, day cares and churches when a sex offender moves into the neighborhood, or when their compliance with state registration laws changes.
Maryland is only one of four states in the country that offer an alert line, and Ehrlich and community activists said more participants are needed.
“This is a tool that will make our community even better,” said Carolyn Jones, president of the Greater Dundalk Alliance.
The awards were part of Ehrlich?s Sex Offender Compliance and Enforcement in Maryland initiative.
On Tuesday, Ehrlich touted the state?s aggressive reputation against sex offenders, including a law passed earlier this year in a special session of the General Assembly that set mandatory sentences and stricter registration requirements for child sex predators.
The county?s police department employs a four-officer sex offender containment team that works with representatives from the state?s attorneys office and the department of social services.
More than 590 offenders were registered in Baltimore County as of May 29 and all but 5.9 percent were compliant with state registration laws, making for one of the lowest noncompliance rates in the state, officials said.
