Salazar Pushes Full Access To Sex Offender Registry
Attorney General Wants Info Available Statewide
POSTED: 10:37 a.m. MDT June 17, 2003
DENVER -- If Attorney General Ken Salazar gets his way, Colorado citizens would get full access to the state sex offender registry. Salazar wants lawmakers to consider giving all Colorado residents access to the registry.
Under current law, residents can search state records to determine whether any registered sex offenders live nearby or in
neighboring law-enforcement jurisdictions.
Residents seeking information on registered sex offenders living
elsewhere have to explain their need to know. Lawmakers were
reluctant to open the registry to full access because of concerns
about privacy rights, but recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings have
eased those concerns, Salazar said Tuesday.
In a letter to the presidents of the County Sheriffs of Colorado
and Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police, Salazar asked for
support for a bill that would make the changes in the 2004
legislative session.
"Weld County Sheriff John Cook has initiated a program posting sex offender registration information on his office's Web site. I support what Sheriff John Cook is trying to do, particularly in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's recent rulings upholding the posting of sex offender information on the Internet. Additional legislation is needed here in Colorado to expand public access to these sex offender lists," Salazar wrote.
Allowing full access to all Colorado residents is a public safety concern, said Ken Lane, Salazar's spokesman.
"These are public records and Attorney General Salazar believes
it is in the best interest of communities to have the information
available to them," Lane said.
Additional Resources
-
Access Weld County's Sex Offender Registry.
The Colorado Bureau of Information's online sex offender registry.
Previous Stories:
- June 5, 2003: Weld County Puts Sex Offender Registry Online
Copyright 2003 by TheDenverChannel.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.







