DeKalb County will establish a notification system to alert residents whenever a registered sex offender moves into the county.
Commissioner Greg Matthews proposed the notification system after a registered sex offender moved into the area. Matthews said he and several other commissioners received complaints about the resolution; however, all of the complaints were from people outside of Tennessee.
“I done reached out to the TBI, I’ve spoken to them, I’ve spoken to the Sheriff’s Department, 911, all of them thinks this is a wonderful thing that this county offers,” Matthews said. “I would ask this question: ‘Does this county do anything right now to alert somebody? We do nothing.'”
County Mayor Matt Adcock said the system would notify anyone who lives within 1,000 feet of the registered sex offender. Commissioner Andy Pack stated he was for the system, but questioned if the county would be liable if the system failed to notify someone.
“We don’t need to act completely out of emotion because we don’t want to get the county in a lawsuit, but I don’t have any sympathy for anyone who harms a child,” Pack said. “I think this is a great thing, but I think some of the things we have done in the past are to jump into something rather quickly and not investigate it to the fullest extent to learn the pros and cons. There are lots of pros to this, and everything about it is great, but we have to look out for the county’s best interest too if something was to occur. They (residents) have access to information about the people around them. You can go to the Tennessee sex offender registry at tn.gov and find out anything you want to find out. Don’t get me wrong, I think this is a great idea, but I think we need to make sure what we are doing and that we cover all the bases”.
Commissioner Tom Chandler questioned how people outside of the state heard about the resolution.
“I got calls today from people in California and Arizona,” Chandler said. “I’m not sure how they were notified of us having this resolution on the floor tonight, but I thought it was curious that the script they used was virtually identical, using a phrase in particular that this motion could promote vigilantism and harassment of sexual offenders and their families. I found myself wondering whether there was anybody in this county that had teenage daughters that would not want to know if Jeffrey Epstein or Ghislaine Maxwell had moved into DeKalb County near them. I’m going to guess there isn’t anybody like that. Its curious to me that wackos in California and Arizona want to tell us how to govern ourselves here. I’m in favor of this.”
The resolution states that the community is to receive notification by either mail, flyer, newspaper, electronic notification, or any other means reasonably expected to provide notification.
Further details about the notification system have yet to be determined by the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office.
