COLUMBIA, MD — Before kids go out trick or treating, take the time to investigate who is living in your neighborhood. To make it simple for parents across the state to protect their kids from dangers that may lurk in their neighborhoods or nearby, the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services offers a searchable sex offender database on its website. That database contains the names, offenses and last known addresses of the state's registered sexual offenders and predators, and their workplace.

You may want to avoid trick or treating at these houses and apartments on Halloween, or merely be aware of who's living in your neighborhood throughout the year. There are three tiers of sexual offenders in Maryland: one, two and three. Tier one offenders, least serious of the three, are on the list for 15 years and must register in person with a local law enforcement agency every six months. Tier one offenses include possession of child pornography, travel with intent to engage in illicit conduct, visual surveillance with prurient intent and more.





Tier two offenders are on the sex offender registry for 25 years and must register in person with a local law enforcement agency every six months. Tier two offenses include distribution of child pornography, sexual solicitation of a minor, third degree sex offenses and more. Tier three offenders are on the sex offender registry for life and must register in person with a local law enforcement agency every three months. Tier three offenses include false imprisonment of a minor, rape or attempted rape, sexual abuse of a minor, child kidnapping and more.

Anne Arundel County has 409 registered sex offenders, the state website says. Below are the number of sex offenders broken down by zip code.

21044

There are 31 sex offenders living or working in 20144. Most of them are complying with local authorities' requirements of them, but one is considered non-compliant, meaning they haven't registered when required to. 21045

There are 26 sex offenders living or working in 21045. Of those, all are considered compliant.

21046

There are 18 sex offenders living or working in 20146. Of those, two are considered non-compliant.

Law enforcement officials and researchers caution that the registries can play only a limited role in preventing child sexual abuse and stress that most perpetrators are known to the child. The U.S. Department of Justice, which oversees the National Sex Offender Public Website, estimates that only about 10 percent of perpetrators of child sexual abuse are strangers to the child.

The Justice Department estimates 60 percent of perpetrators are known to the child but are not family members but rather family friends, babysitters, child care providers and others, and 30 percent of child victims are abused by family members. Nearly a quarter of the abusers are under the age of 18, the department estimates. How To Search Maryland Sex Offender Registry

Parents who want to check out the map for themselves can visit the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services website. There, you can search for sex offenders by: distance from an address, county, zip code, name and school, if they are employed by or enrolled in any institutions.