Child Predators and Technology
By CHICKMELIONfreelance
Statistics show that more than three-forth's of violent crimes against children occurred either in the offender’s home or in the victim’s place of residence. It would be prudent then to get the heads up for potential threats in your neighborhood, or child's play areas. According to the US Department of justice bureau , on any given day there are approximately 234,000 sex offenders who were convicted and are either in custody or allegedly on parole or control of corrections agencies.
To address this situation,Thin Air Wireless has an on the go application for the Apple iPhone (version 2.0) that can give parents an upper hand in monitoring their child’s safety. It is called the “Offender Locator iPhone Application.” This company specializes in innovative GPS location technology, and have now added to their product line an application that can:display a list of sex crime convicts in any given area; allows parents to receive updates when an offender moves into the area; search friend’s neighborhoods via the address book ; or if traveling one can type in a street address to generate a list.
The benefits from this product is two fold: aside from the obvious peace of mind that is at the finger tips any time any where; the company has also structured a means of collecting 10% of the proceeds and redirecting these funds towards supporting philanthropic organizations dedicated to addressing the critically important issue of child predators in America through outreach, education and advocacy.
The information provided by the application is for public safety and intended to be used to protect those who may be at risk and is not intended for the purposes of punishing the offender. Remember it is also considered a crime to engage in discrimination or harassment against a registered sex offender and may put you at risk of facing criminal prosecution and /or civil action. If you have information related to any violations of probation of any offender in your neighborhood, report it right away.
On another technological front, here is the heads up on a program called “Street View." It is a web-based program that allows users to search Google Maps for residences, businesses and other geographic locations. It then delivers what its name implies - highly-magnified, 360-degree panoramic street-level photographic images of those addresses. In essence it has the potential to allows anyone from the comfort of their home to view photographic images of the most likely route your child walks to school, or to calculate the distance between your front door and your child's school bus stop. After you assess your neighborhood risk level, you might want to consider asking Google to take the picture of your property off of their Google Street View program. Don’t get me wrong, this application is a good tool when used properly, and is very useful for a stranger trying to find their way around in an unfamiliar city. Google is more than willing and able to restrict access to Street View images upon request.
Recognizing the threats and being pro active is the best forms of protecting your children in this ever changing and evolving technological environment. It also can give you peace of mind and the freedom of movement knowing that your safety is not only your priority.
