Created: 11/13/2009 1:02:27 PM 
ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. -- Even though investigators don't know who took Somer Thompson last month or Haleigh Cummings in February, the investigations have created a heightened awareness of who lives near one's neighborhood.
Sgt. Chuck Mulligan said, "Since the Somer Thompson disappearance and unfortunate homicide case, we've had numerous phone calls, inquiries and email issues going throughout the county. It's a concern and it should be. There's someone out there doing heinous crimes."
In most parts of Florida, a person can search for sexual offenders and predators who live within so many miles of an address.
In St. Johns County, you can actually be notified through email of a new sexual criminal in your neighborhood.
The Offender Watch program is on the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office webpage. There, people can register for email alerts by simply typing their name and an address. That information remains confidential.
Mulligan said, "That information is placed into a data bank. When a detective makes an [address] change on a sexual offender or predator, you will receive an email."
The St. Johns County Sheriff's Office also has a program in place called Code Red. If a sexual predator moves, the program places a telephone call to people who live within so many miles of the sexual predator's new address.
But the Offender Watch program informs individuals about sexual predators as well as sexual offenders.
The St. Johns County has made the Offender Watch software available for about two years.
Mulligan said other law enforcement agencies use it or similar versions of the program.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, more than half of rape and sexual assault incidents happen within a mile of the victim's home.
The St. Johns County Sheriff's Office wants to remind people that knowing the sexual criminals who live near you is an email away.
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