Sex Offenders Told To Turn Lights Out, Take Down Decorations On Halloween

BROCKTON (CBS) -- While kids are focused on candy, parents are focused on safety Halloween night.

Officials are now taking extra steps to help parents protect kids from sex offenders on October 31.

While local police departments have a public list of where registered sex offenders live, Operation Lights Out program goes beyond that.

"We forge relationships with the local police departments and we go out with them, we go to these sex offenders' homes and they are told not to hand out candy, not to decorate their homes, and to keep their lights out," said  Micheal Borden, a New Bedford District Court Probation Officer.

Borden came up with the idea four years ago after seeing police officers in the Midwest plant warning signs on the lawns of sex offenders for parents and kids on Halloween night.

Massachusetts laws do not allow the signs, so Borden modified the idea.

Police in some towns will follow up with surveillance on the homes of sex offenders to make sure they are in compliance.

"We go down there to the homes to make sure that those things are taken care of," Borden said.

Though Operation Lights Out is hard at work, parents are advised to check their town's website for a list of registered sex offenders nearby and their addresses.

According to Borden, many registered sex offenders are not allowed to have contact with minors as part of their probation.