Police To Teach Tracking Of Sex Offenders

Sat., Feb. 7, 1998

From Staff Reports

Federal officials have picked the Spokane Police Department to teach other agencies how to track sex offenders, a department spokesman said Friday.

The Police Department was one of nine agencies nationwide chosen by the U.S. Department of Justice to participate in a federal tracking program, according to police spokesman Dick Cottam.

Justice Department officials called Spokane’s program “outstanding,” Cottam said.

Spokane has two detectives assigned full time to keep tabs on sex offenders.

In 1992, when the department starting the tracking program, detectives knew where 20 percent of the city’s sex offenders were living. Today, the addresses of 70 percent of the city’s offenders are known, Cottam said.

Department officials will travel to Phoenix later this month to discuss the federal program and give a workshop on Spokane’s efforts. , DataTimes

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