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Statewide pre-Halloween checks focus on 1,300 sex offenders under monthly supervision
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BATON ROUGE — State probation and parole officers are mobilizing across Louisiana in the weeks leading up to Halloween to conduct compliance checks on registered child sex offenders.
"It's a huge night for us every year," Corey Acosta, Director of Probation and Parole, said.
Acosta says Halloween is the department's biggest night of the year and that preparation starts weeks in advance.
"We make an effort basically a month before Halloween, making sure that our officers are aware of the rules, making sure the sex offenders are aware of the rules. We send a letter, but we also have our officers make face-to-face contact with them so that they understand what the rules are," Acosta said.
Acosta said there are around 1,300 registered sex offenders statewide that they check on every month, especially this time of year.
"We're going to be on the streets on Halloween making sure that they aren't participating in Halloween," Acosta said.
The task requires about 200 officers working on Halloween night.
Acosta said some places bring sex offenders into the district office during the holiday to keep a closer eye on them.
"In some places we actually have all of the sex offenders come into the district office and during the hours of Halloween they just stay there. They come in, they watch a movie, they might have some counseling with them; it depends," Acosta said.
Officers also spend the weeks before Halloween checking on sex offenders they have not heard from in a while, who are usually in violation of their supervision. Currently, 250 offenders are in jail for violations, and 82 are waiting to be picked up on warrants.
Acosta noted that in over 30 years of running the Halloween enforcement operation, the department has not found an offender participating in any holiday festivities. He said they do a good job of informing sex offenders about their rules and expectations.
The best way to locate sex offenders in your neighborhood is through your local sheriff's office website under the OffenderWatch tab.
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