The Adam Walsh Act will, upon full implementation, will increase the amount of contact between sex offenders and Law Enforcement.  The Act requires that registered sex offenders report to local jurisdictions on a more frequent basis to update their information and show that they are in compliance with the law.  Secondarily, the Act will create a larger number of sex offenders that must be monitored by Law Enforcement on a routine basis.

Washoe County currently has approximately 1,387 acitively registered sex offenders which equates to a case load of 462 offenders to each of the 3 detectives that are assigned to the Regional Sex Offender Notification Unit (RSONU).  As the number of offenders reporting increases, there is a corresponding number of offenders who will be in non-compliance.  The detectives of the RSONU will have to attempt to locate and put into compliance those out-of-compliance offenders.  This will require additional manpower not currently available.  The only way to accomplish this will be to conduct sweep operations using existing personnel working on an overtime basis.

Access to the OffenderWatch portal will help reduce time spent trying to locate outstanding and non-compliant sex offenders.  In some cases, offenders have been arrested and are either incarcerated in either a jail facility or a state institution.  The OffenderWatch portal includes a service to create an alert on an offender who has been incarcerated, thus reducing hours of work trying to locate the offender.  An email featuring the incarceration alert will be sent to the RSONU.

By attending the 2017 Crimes Against Children Conference, members of RSONU will attend classes designed to manage sex offender tracking and verification programs.  Additional classes will include subject matter that pertains to identifying behavior indicative of recidivism and methods to better manage and track offenders that pose a higher risk to communities.  After members have attended this training, they will be able to apply the policies and skills learned.

The Justice Assistance Grant in the amount of $38,305.00 will be allocated as follows.  $30,090.00 provided by the grant will pay detective overtime so that RSONU can conduct sweep operations to locate out of compliance offenders on a proposed quarterly basis.  $2,500.00 provided by the grant will provide access to the OffenderWatch portal.  $5,715.00 provided by the grant will provide travel and training expenses for the members of RSONU to attend the 2017 annual Crimes Against Children Conference located in Dallas, Texas.

The award from this grant will help RSONU to achieve it's goal to maintain registration compliance of 90% and if possible increase registration compliance.

The Council can elect to reject the Justice Assitance Grant grant award in the amount of $38,305 and seek funding elsewhere.

I move to accept the Justice Assistance Grant in the amount of $38,305 from the State of Nevada Department of Public Safety.