Web site offers map to locate sex felons near apartment units

Any time you move, one of your first big questions is: Who are my neighbors?

An apartment-finder Web site is trying to help prospective tenants by giving clues about some of the people living near 272 apartment complexes in Colorado Springs.

The folks at Apartment Ratings (www.apartmentratings.com) have taken information from the Colorado sex-offender registry to produce a map that shows convicted sex felons within a 1-mile radius of city apartments.

“The main reason we did this is because the majority of our users are women, and safety is a big part of their decision-making process in renting an apartment,” said Katie Bencken, who co-founded the nationwide Web site in 2000 with her husband, Jeremy.

Simply pointing customers to individual state sex-offender register sites wasn’t enough, she said.

“They asked for this information,” Bencken said. “We thought it would be much easier if they could find reviews, find the rent trends and the safety rating all in one place.”

Visitors to the site can find ratings and reviews, with maps, and rent trends on 57,000 apartment complexes in 1,552 cities nationwide.

And now, maps locating registered sex offenders within a 1-mile radius.

In Colorado Springs, that means pinpoints tracking 829 registered sex offenders, Bencken said.

She cautions, however, that there are no guarantees the maps are 100 percent accurate.

“Our information is updated every week by our partner, FamilyBeacon.com, which downloads information from state registers once a week,” she said. “Sometimes there is a gap. And, of course, sex offenders don’t always register or they move without telling police.”

But she’s satisfied the sex-offender map is valuable.

“More information is better than no information,” Bencken said.

Springs-area law enforcement officials had mixed opinions about the Web site. Although they acknowledge it’s good to know where registered sex offenders are living, they would prefer that people go to state and local Web sites for the information, not a third party such as Apartment Ratings or FamilyBeacon.com.

“I guess if you are moving out of town it could be useful to get an idea of a neighborhood,” said Sgt. Maggie Santos, who supervises the sex-crimes unit of the Colorado Springs Police Department. “But if you are in Colorado Springs, we’d be the place to come if you want the best information.”

In fact, the police maintain an online registry of sex offenders with photos and addresses that is available at www.springsgov.com by following the public-safety link to the Colorado Springs Police Web page.

Santos said the information also is available on a compact disc at the police department. And it will soon be online on a map, similar to Apartment Ratings.

Fourth Judicial District prosecutors also prefer that people access sex-offender information locally, either from the city or from the El Paso County sheriff’s Web site, http://shr.elpasoco.com.

For information statewide, visit http://sor.state.co.us for the Colorado Bureau of Investigation’s Convicted Sex Offender Site.

Tell me about your neighborhood: 636-0193 or bill.vogrin@gazette.com