Tracking Convicted Sex Offenders

Lee Cowan: Keeping Tabs On Child Predators Is Big Business

(CBS)  Bryan, Texas, may seem a world away from big city problems, but when Boo Davis went house hunting she found a potential threat down nearly every street.

"There was an offender in every neighborhood," she told CBS News Correspondent Lee Cowan.

She's talking about sex offenders — and much to her surprise, local officials went out of its way to tell her where every one of them lived.

"Yes, we are airing some dirty laundry that we have, but it's a fact of life," said Gus Roman.

Roman, the city's IT director, created a one-of-a-kind tracking system — a map-based search that offers a detailed look at every registered sex offender, right down to a satellite photos of their front yard — all with the click of a mouse.

"Here's her front porch, and here's the sex offender house and here's the car right here, street, driveway," he said.

"This is the guy who lives across the street?" asked Cowan.

"This is the gentlemen who lives across the street — picture taken two months ago," Roman replied.

Tracking convicted child molesters has become a top priority to some politicians. One in Ohio even wanted to make them put bold pink license plates to their cars. It's not just the politicians; hunting down child predators has become a business too.

Give your zip code to Scan USA, and every time a registered sex offender moves into your neighborhood, you'll get a warning on your cell phone.

"You can continue to scroll down, and you've got a photograph," said Don Clark of Scan USA.

"You get a picture?" asked Cowan.

"You even get a picture of the person that's described in the alert," Clark said.

The murder of Jessica Lunsford in Florida only sharpened attention on the recidivism of sex offenders.

More and more of those who fail to register are being rounded up every day. But some wonder where the hi-tech tracking will stop.

"We can put a chip in everybody's neck, and have all their medical information and we can have their driver's license information. But do we want to do that?" asked Michael Linz of the ACLU.

"We're not doing anything that's violating anybody's civil right; we're not going against any laws, any rules or regulations. We are simply adding to and enhancing the mechanisms that are available to keep track of these people," said Clark.

For Boo Davis — it's like another pair of eyes — even if every glance across the street is suspicious.