Tuesday, October 14, 2008

How Well Do You Know Your Neighbors?

Click here Just put in your address & your neighborhood map will pop up. Every place you see a red balloon or thumb tack is the home of a convicted felon. Just hover your mouse over an icon & not only will the name come up, but also the crime they were convicted of.

Before you go accepting a tootsie roll from them in a few weeks.

6 Comments:

At 10/14/2008, Blogger superdave524 said...

Interesting idea. Not sure where the data comes from or how accurate, but I like the idea. First of all, I've represented a bunch of felons, many of whom have pleaded guilty, and I don't see any of their names in my (albeit very limited) search area. I figured I'd recognize at least one of the names (I know one burglar (I hope former) who lives down the street (decent guy, bad drug problem) and one of my neighbors told me he has a prior felony conviction, but I didn't see him on the grid). Also, the offenses listed in Walterboro and Ridgeland are generally not South Carolina crime names. Some are; some aren't. We've got degrees of CSC and Arson, but not of assault, for example (we've got three different kinds: Simple, Aggravated, and "with intent to kill"- but they don't go by "degrees"). Also, some of the offenses listed are not generally prosecuted (example: sodomy is illegal, but not prosecuted. If it's forcible, Solicitors prosecute under CSC (criminal sexual conduct), not sodomy). Anyway, it's a pretty cool idea. I don't have a huge problem with "big brother" if he's protecting my kids.

 
At 10/14/2008, Blogger QuakerJono said...

Exactly how does this "protect your kids?" Seriously, where's the connection, because all I'm seeing is yet another slash on the hacked up face of Lady Liberty.

Protect your kids by knowing where they are. Protect your kids by actually meeting your neighbors and getting to know them. Protect your kids by teaching them how to deal with strangers and dangerous situations and to not put themselves in harm's way.

What are you going to do with this information? Get together a mob, buy some pitch forks, light some torches and march on these people? You ask how well you know your neighbors, Kate, but how does a contextless text blurb let you get to know them any better?

Those of us who bitched and wailed about PATRIOT should have the exact same response to this. What's next? A neat little web site that spots all the Jews living near you? All the gays?

And SD is right. This site is suspect in the extreme. Someone near me (yes, I'm a hypocrite as I looked) has a felony conviction for "Performance of a child." Huh? I'll assume that's a typo, but if you're going to disclose information about folks, perhaps you should go over your code?

Another interesting point. I went back to the site to find the exact phrasing of the above charge. Not only is it now gone, but nearly all the charges listed near me have changed. Some just the crime, some the entire person. People who were there aren't there. Yeah, wtf is going on with this?

Sorry, but this is as stupid and pejorative as those public sex offender registries. Some 17 year old sleeps with a 16 year old and suddenly everywhere they go, the "morally indignant" get to know a fact about them without any sort of situational understanding and a possibly incorrect "fact" at that.

 
At 10/14/2008, Blogger jrtnutt said...

Quakerjono:
We "got to know our neighbors" and became friends with them. They had to move to Maryland because "grandmom was sick". They asked us to send them their mail. Well...they were getting mail from the Florida State Prison System. So I googled the name of the prisoner on the envelope. Sure enough, it was this neighbor's brother. He had been arrested for attempted murder with a hatchet. That is why he was in jail. So...I figured I had better google the rest of the family. Everyone in that family had some kind of arrest record except the mother. Son in law: transporting drugs over state line and it said "not marijuana". He was also wanted for non payment of child support. There was a warrent out for his arrest. I wondered why he didn't get a job and told me he didn't believe in bank accounts. I was suspicious about that one. Daughter: arrested for embezzlement. Dad for indecent exposure.
I thought I knew my neighbors. I won't get close to any more new neigbors and will just stick with the ones I have known now for 9 years.

 
At 10/14/2008, Blogger kate said...

I'm somewhere between these two extremes. I don't think I'll be calling a mob into action, but I'd like the information presented in these forums.

Just so I know and am aware. If anything, it's a reminder to, as QJ put it, to know where my kids are and teach them to stay safe.

 
At 10/15/2008, Blogger superdave524 said...

Well, with more people in prison than any other country in the world (including China), sooner or later every American will know someone who's done time or is doing time.

 
At 10/16/2008, Blogger Chase Squires said...

These folks you're championing also run a site linked from this one that lists people who have had legal abortions, violating their privacy and opening them to dangerous attacks from zealots. And they state some of this information is gathered by medical professionals who violate the law and deliver medical records to them, or by "spies" who hide in bushes (their words) outside clinics. Not exactly the brave, nice people they portay themselves to be.

 

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