The Florida county where police post 'sexual predator' road signs outside homes of convicted rapists and child molesters



One Florida county is taking its duty to notify neighbors about sex offenders living in the community to the next level and posting red road side outside the homes of rapists and child molesters.



The sheriff of Bradford County, Florida, decided the reflective signs, which have each offender's name, should be planted on the roadways outside the houses of convicted sexual predators to ward off children and notify parents about potentially-dangerous convicts in the area.



'If it prevents one more victim in my community, I've done my job as sheriff,' Sheriff Gordon Smith told First Coast News.



Public notice: This is one of the 18 road signs that the Bradford County Sheriff's Department has posted outside the homes of sexual predators

The sheriff's office had jail inmates place the signs on public property outside the houses of convicted sexual predators

So far, the sheriff's office has made 18 signs at a cost of $10 apiece.



Captain Brad Smith, the chief of operations for the sheriff's office, told VICE magazine that the state of Florida mandates that police departments keep citizens informed about the sex offenders in the community.



The department already sends out notifications on Facebook and sends officers to warn neighbors door-to-door when a sexual predator moves in.



However, if a new family comes to a community after the notifications are sent out, Capt Smith says, they might not know a sex offender is living next door.

On notice: Officials say they hope the signs ward off any children from going near the homes of sexual predators

The signs costs $10 each and are customized with the name of the sex offender

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VICE magazine suggested that the road signs could result in neighbors harassing sex offenders in the county.

'We don't expect that to happen, and if it does, we will do everything in our power to protect the person's rights,' Capt Smith said.

The signs are only posted for sexual predators - the worst sex offenders who have been convicted of raping a child or an adult.

John Goodman, a convicted sexual predator, told First Coast News that he doesn't have a problem with the signs.



'I've done learned my lesson. I don't do things like that anymore,' he said.





