By Crystal Carreon, The San Jose Mercury News
Thousands of Internet users logged onto the San Jose Police Department’s new Megan’s Law Web site Friday, viewing profiles of high-risk sex offenders -- nearly 20 times the number of viewings the agency’s database had in the past 12 months.
“That’s just phenomenal,” said Deputy Police Chief Rob Davis, on the scores of users who viewed the site after its 1 p.m. launch Thursday. ``There are lots of people in San Jose who are more informed because of this.”
The high-risk sex offender mapping link at www.sjpd.org, one of the most comprehensive online sites of its kind in the state, had been viewed more than 5,400 times by Friday evening.
Before its online debut, 312 people had viewed the Megan’s Law Database during limited hours at the police department this year. The public can still do that for the more than 1,780 serious sex offenders who live in San Jose and who are not included on the Web site.
A Mercury News investigation this week found that California has one of the least informative and most inaccurate Megan’s Law databases in the country. San Jose officials launched the Web site as a ``first step’’ to address those lapses. Police plan to update the site every two weeks.
The site, which will soon offer versions in Spanish and Vietnamese, features a map of San Jose with red dots in the ZIP codes where the city’s 24 high-risk sex offenders live. Sex offenders are considered “high risk” because of multiple convictions and a high likelihood of striking again.