County Launches New Sex Offender Registration, Tracking Site Available to Public

The San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office has launched a new sex offender registration and public notification website called OffenderWatch®. 

San Mateo County will now be part of a nationwide network of over 5,000 law enforcement agencies, including over 45 California agencies. 

The service provides an easy to use website that enables members of the community to search for potentially dangerous sex offenders and predators, which may be in close proximity to their homes, places of work, schools, religious institutions, and day care centers.

The information is available 24 hours a day 7 days a week and is updated in real time by the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office as offender information changes are reported. 

As part of this new and innovative service, users may enter any address of interest to them, and see a map and listing of all offenders within a defined radius of .25 miles to 2 miles away.  Additionally, users can then register the address to be saved in the system, so they can be alerted if an offender or predator should register an address within that specified radius. Users may confidentially register as many addresses as they like, at no cost to them. 

The purpose of the Offender Watch® program is to lessen the anxiety of those living and working in San Mateo County by proactively alerting them if an offender moves within proximity to them. 

Those who are interested can access the OffenderWatch® registry at the San Mateo County Sheriff’s webpage: www.smcsheriff.com.