CHENANGO – Information on medium and high-risk sex offenders living in their neighborhoods can now be found online by Facebook users statewide, according to the NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services.

Beginning today, the DCJS will launch its Sex Offender Locator Application, which can be found on the New York State Public Safety’s Facebook page, facebook.com/nyspublicsafety. Users of the popular social networking site can also share the application from their own Facebook page, as well.

Information on Level 2 (medium risk) and Level 3 (high risk) sex offenders has long been available on the state’s sex offender registry, criminaljustice.ny.gov/nsor. Now that information will be even more accessible, thanks to the new Facebook application.

“Knowledge is power. New Yorkers now have another way to access up-to-date information about sex offenders in their neighborhoods,” stated DCJS Acting Commissioner Sean M. Byrne in a October 17 press release. “With Halloween around the corner, parents now have another tool to learn where offenders live so they can ensure their children stay away from those locations, as well as strangers’ homes. The Facebook app puts that that important information at parents’ fingertips, whether they are at home or on the go.”