In 1994, a little girl named Megan Kanka was abducted, molested and killed in her New Jersey neighborhood by a man who was a repeat sex offender. Her parents were unaware that this repeat offender lived near their home. Megan's parents petitioned Congress to pass a law that would allow for the registration and dissemination of information about sex offenders. Megan's Law was indeed passed and signed into law on May 17, 1996.

Congress then mandated that the Department of Justice must develop a database of sex offenders and allow the states to develop and maintain their own databases. In addition, states were required to develop public notification procedures or risk losing federal funding for crime initiatives.

Megan's Law is a very well intentioned law that is designed to prevent crimes against children. However, the law is sometimes very difficult to implement. There is no perfect solution or answer to all the issues that are raised by this law. One of the problems with the law is that people are very mobile. A sex offender may register at one address and then move very quickly. The sheriff may indeed notify a seller that there is a registered sex offender in the area, and then that person may move without anyone's knowledge. By the same token, a sex offender may move into a particular neighborhood, and the residents, for one reason or another, may not immediately find out that the offender is there.

For your convenience, we have listed the all the metro area police jurisdiction phone numbers in the phone directory so you can call them for information. Or, upon your request, we can provide you with a C.B.I. (Colorado Bureau of Investigation) request form; or you can download the form at the C.B.I. website: HTTP://sor.state.co.us/default.asp