With Halloween approaching, local authorities are urging parents to stay alert, especially about homes where registered sex offenders reside.
Overton County Sheriff John Garrett said people may not think about the dangers of sex offenders during trick-or-treating. Garrett said with children preparing to dress up and go door-to-door for candy, they are vulnerable to encountering sex offenders
“It is a very vulnerable time for children because sexual assault can happen in just mere seconds,” Garrett said. “I mean, a parent can have their head turned, and something could happen to that child that you know, would change their life forever.”
Garrett said registered sex offenders are not allowed to participate in trick-or-treating or even have a porch light on to indicate they are welcoming trick-or-treaters. Garrett said he encourages parents to look up the sex offender registry to avoid those houses when planning a route to ensure a safe and enjoyable time trick-or-treating.
“That’s a good place to start,” Garrett said. “But something else I would also suggest is that parents, or parent guardian, older sibling, or an older sibling, or whenever I say an older sibling I am talking about a teenager or above, someone that is very responsible, someone that is gonna be able to keep an eye on that child to accompany those children from door to door and never allow a child to go inside a home that you are not fmailiar with.”
The Tennessee Department of Corrections is conducting “Operation Blackout”, which is an operation to visit registered sex offenders to ensure they are not participating in any kind of trick-or-treating. Garrett said most law enforcement agencies will be conducting similar operations as well to provide an extra blanket of safety.
“Our sex offender registry compliance officer will print out a list, and we will get that out to our nightshift guys for each zone,” Garrett said. “And we will have our deputies sometimes to go make contact with these folks to make sure, at the bare minimum, we are at least going to be doing drive-bys of those residents and making sure that their house is not lit up, it’s not decorated, they are not accepting trick-or-treaters, or at least giving one the idea that they would be wlcoming trick-or-treaters.”
Garrett said he has not seen an issue where an incident has happened in Overton County. Garrett said encounters with sex offenders can still happen even though the Upper Cumberland is a rural region.
