WVa. State Police get grant for sex offender mapping system

By Edward Marshall
The Journal

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — The West Virginia State Police will soon be able to keep a closer eye on registered sex offenders in the state thanks to a grant recently received by the law enforcement agency to develop a sex offender mapping system.

The agency announced that it received the $30,000 grant from the West Virginia Technical Assistance Broadband Grant Program to develop the law enforcement sex offender mapping program. The award was part of a solicitation offered by the West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey, which oversees the West Virginia Broadband Mapping Program. The mapping program will offer troopers a quick method to identify all sex offenders within a given region by making inquiries to the mapping system.

"It's going to be a law enforcement-only database for us to more quickly identify sex offenders in a given area. Where this comes in handy has to do with time frames and instances such as child abductions. One of the first leads we would investigate in a child abduction are sex offenders who may live in proximity to an abduction site," said Lt. D.B. Swiger, who heads the West Virginia State Police Crimes Against Children Unit.

Full Story: State Police receive grant to develop sex offender mapping system