Missouri Sheriffs’ Association responds to audit on sex offender registry

The Missouri Sheriffs’ Association released a statement this week in response to Missouri Auditor Nicole Galloway’s audit of the Missouri sex offender registry program.

The report released last Monday claimed local law enforcement could not locate more than 1,200 registered sex offenders.

“Due to inadequate enforcement of the registration requirements at the local level, 1,259 registered sex offenders failed to follow the law,” the auditor’s office said. “That number represents 7.9 percent of the almost 16,000 offenders required to register.”

The Missouri Sheriff’s Association said the numbers in the report do not add up.

“Had (the Auditor) simply contacted the sheriffs for input before releasing the report and not rushed to judgment, the Auditor would have discovered the number of those she asserts to be unaccounted for simply is not true,” the association said. “Some offenders are in prison and accounted for, some have passed away and accounted for and many others are in the process for criminal prosecution which requires an investigation, evidence to obtain a warrant and then interaction with the prosecutor and the Circuit Court.”

ABC 17 News contacted the auditor’s office for comment Monday.

“It’s unfortunate that the Sheriffs’ Association decided to weigh in this way,” the office said. “During the audit process, audit staff met with the head of the Missouri Sheriffs’ Association to seek information and input about issues noted in the report, but the association ultimately “declined” to provide any responses to those inquiries.”

You can find the Auditor’s full statement in response to the Missouri Sheriffs’ Association here.