May 4, 2006

East Lansing - Director of the Michigan State Police, Col. Tadarial J. Sturdivant announced today that 405 people have been arrested and 585 additional arrest warrants have been requested following a 14-day, statewide initiative led by the Michigan State Police (MSP) aimed at increasing compliance with the state’s sex offender law.

Over 110 law enforcement agencies and prosecutors’ offices participated in the state’s second coordinated sex offender sweep, dubbed Operation Verify. The statewide sweep was part of a continuing effort to proactively pick up offenders. 846 people were arrested during the first statewide sweep which lasted 55 days in the fall of 2005.

Officers targeted felony-listed offenders who failed to change or verify their address during the April verification period, which ran until April 15. Officers also conducted 2,884 random residence checks of registered sex offenders to ensure compliance with the reporting requirements of the state’s Sex Offenders Registration Act (PA 295 of 1994).

The Sex Offenders Registration Act requires offenders convicted of a felony listed offense to verify their address at a local law enforcement agency quarterly during the first 15 days of January, April, July and October. Failure to do so results in a graduated penalty ranging from a 93-day misdemeanor to a four-year felony. Offenders convicted of misdemeanor offenses must report to law enforcement to verify their address yearly, January 1 through January 15. Failure to do so is a 93-day misdemeanor.

Convicted offenders must also report a change of address within 10 days of moving, and failure to do so is a four-year felony.

"Law enforcement in Michigan is committed to ensuring the safety of our children and families by ensuring compliance with our state's sex offender laws," Sturdivant stated. "Compliance with the state's sex offender registry is not optional - it is the law, and we are prepared to enforce it."

Of the 405 arrests, 174 were felonies for failure to register or failure to change an address, 219 were misdemeanors for failure to verify an address and 12 were for other misdemeanor sex offender registry violations including failure to pay the registrati on fee and failure to sign the registration form.

In addition, 46 outstanding warrants, not related to the Sex Offender Registry, were satisfied and 42 offenders were charged with additional crimes.

As of May 1, there were 38,936 offenders statewide in the Sex Offender Registry. Of those, 23,884 are required to verify their address either yearly or quarterly depending on the offense.