DANVILLE — Any resident throughout Vermilion County has the ability now to access a locally generated computer database to find out whether there are any sex offenders living in their neighborhood and receive e-mail alerts if one moves into the neighborhood.

The "Offender Watch" program, recently launched by the Vermilion County sheriff's office, provides a more direct, user-friendly link to similar sex offender registration information provided on the state's sex offender website that can also be accessed by the public at http://www.isp.state.il.us. Most sex offenders are required to register for up to 10 years, but some must register for life and some must verify their registration more than once a year.

The new local program offered in Vermilion County — at http://www.vermilionsheriff.org/  —provides the most timely and accurate information on the identities and addresses of convicted sex offenders living in Vermilion, according to Vermilion County Sheriff Pat Hartshorn.

The public can type in any address and access a list, with names, addresses and pictures, of convicted sex offenders from a half-mile radius up to 2 miles. Along with the list, each search yields a map that pinpoints the location of each offender and matches each location with the corresponding name in the list. Also, members of the public can sign up for free email alerts notifying them if a sex offender moves into their neighborhood.

"The beauty of that is if the public signs up for the email alerts, they will get this information at the same time that the sheriff office gets it," said Hartshorn, who added that the email addresses entered by members of the public remain confidential.

He said there are more than 200 registered sex offenders in the county, including the city of Danville. The sheriff's department is the law enforcement agency responsible for registering all convicted sex offenders in the county, although, Hartshorn said, the sheriff's department handles the address verification of offenders out in the county, and Danville city police handle verifications of offenders living in the city.

A private company provided the software to the department, and the sheriff's department enters the information into the database. The program is the result of a joint initiative between the Illinois Sheriff's Association and the Illinois attorney general's office, and it's available to any law enforcement agency that wishes to incorporate the program into its web site. The cost is of the program will be covered by a future increase in the fee that sex offenders must pay when they register their address with local law enforcement agencies where they're living, according to Hartshorn.

A grant is paying for the sites in the first year or two of operation, he said, and revenue from the fee increase will cover the cost of maintaining them in the future. Hartshorn said it has taken a lot of work for his department's staff to get the information entered into the database.

"But the cost will be on the offender," he said.

The information provided on the local we site is a little more timely, because the sheriff's department is gathering the information directly from the sex offenders when they register or change addresses or when law enforcement officers do verification checks at their addresses. State law requires sex offenders to verify their address and other information every year, and more often for some offenders, depending on their crime. Local law enforcement agencies, including city police and sheriff's departments, are responsible for verifying the addresses.

Hartshorn said deputies verify addresses in person, and from time to time, the department does surprise checks. If offenders are not in compliance, they can be arrested for noncompliance, which is a felony.

Besides providing the public with information, Hartshorn said, the program also has some additional aspects that will be helpful to police as an investigative tool, but he did not want to disclose specifics of those tools.

Danville Public Safety Director Larry Thomason said the Danville Police Department fields calls from residents seeking information about sex offenders in the community, and now, the public can be directed to this new program.

"We think it's a great deal to have for the public," he said. "We certainly hope they take advantage of that."

Hartshorn said one of the most beneficial aspects of the site is the ability for parents to check for offenders living near their home and other areas like where their children walk to school or to the school bus stop, where their children play or where their children's baby sitter lives . You can enter as many addresses as you want, he said.

Another advantage, he said, is that the public doesn't have to continually return to the site to enter their addresses again to see what's changed. The program will do that for them if they sign up for the e-mail alerts.

"The ultimate advantage is to be informed," he said.