By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
The Buchanan County Sheriff’s Office will be out tonight (Fri.), making sure those on the registered sex offender list are following the rules this Halloween.
Sheriff Bill Puett says it’s something his office takes very seriously, and the community does as well, so deputies will do what they need to protect children
“So, we will verify that those offenders are where they’re supposed to be by statute, and I know that I’ve had people that say that it’s not fair, and they don’t like it and everything else,” Puett says on the KFEQmunnity show. “You know that’s not for me to debate, my issue is as the sheriff the law is what it is and we’re going to enforce that, we’re going to keep our community as safe as we can keep it.”
Puett says with over 300 registered sex offenders in the county, deputies will check on all of them tonight, sometimes twice, to ensure they are compliant.
Puett says around 18 to 20 teams of officers will check on everyone on the list, with three varying situations
“Number one they need to be checked; number two they’re at work and they have a verified work slip. If that’s the case, they can be at work and we verify that,” Puett explains. “If they’re homeless, they’re required to come to the law enforcement center, and they have to wait in the lobby, and we check them and they have to be in the lobby until 10:30.”
Puett says most that his officers check on through the night are compliant
“Probably 9.8 out of 10 will greet the deputies at the door, how you doing, I mean they know the routine, they’ll have their ID, because the quicker it goes the deputy is gone and away they go and they know they have to do it,” Puett says.
Puett does say every now and then though they will encounter someone belligerent, that after officers will leave will go on to break the law, which is why officers sometimes check twice.
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.