The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

DEKALB: What police are doing to keep kids safe on Halloween.

- By Raisa Habersham Atlanta Journal-Constituti­on

The DeKalb County Sher- iff ’s Office will monitor sexual predator activity on Halloween, officials announced in a news release.

DeKalb has 21 residents on the sexual offender registry who are considered dangerous predators.

“These per s ons are wearing ankle monitors and should not respond to trick-or-treat visitors or leave their residences during the Halloween event,” DeKalb County Sheriff Jeffrey Mann said in the release sent to news media Monday.

Though the sheriff ’s office does not have any special Halloween restrictio­ns on registered sex offenders, it does plan to visit the homes of the 21 sex offenders. Outside of the Halloween checks, the sheriff ’s office does one annual unschedule­d visit to sex offender homes as required by state law.

Sex offenders in DeKalb County are not required to report to jail on Halloween, like those in one Georgia city, which is legal despite criticism of the act.

Under Georgia law, some sex offenders may be directed by the state to report to a certain location and remain there during evening hours. By law, sex offenders on parole or probation on Halloween are also subjected to increased county and state supervisio­n, prohibited from par- ticipating in Halloween-related events and are under a dusk to dawn curfew.

As of Monday, DeKalb County has 935 registered sex offenders. Of that amount, 64 are in the DeKalb County Jail.

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