ST. LOUIS (MI)
St. Louis Public Radio
October 1, 2018
By Rachel Lippmann
Updated Oct. 1 at 4:30 p.m. with comments from the St. Louis Police Department — Police in Missouri do not know the whereabouts of nearly 1,200 sex offenders who are required by law to register with law enforcement — or nearly 8 percent of the total population who are supposed to be tracked.
An audit released Monday by state Auditor Nicole Galloway found that nearly 800 of those individuals have committed the most serious crimes, such as rape or child molestation in the first degree.
“I find this disturbing and alarming,” Galloway said during an appearance in St. Louis. “Because local law enforcement officials don’t know where these offenders are, that means citizens don’t know where they are either.”
The 7.9 percent noncompliance rate was higher than the 7.1 percent rate found during the last audit in 2010, Galloway said, and more than half of the nonregistered offenders had exceeded their scheduled dates to register by more than a year.
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