SEX OFFENDER MAPPING (SOM)


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Relevant Iowa Law

            692A.2A Residency restrictions - child care facilities and schools.
    1. For purposes of this section, "person" means a person who has committed a criminal offense against a minor, or an aggravated offense, sexually violent offense, or other relevant offense that involved a minor.
    2. A person shall not reside within two thousand feet of the real property comprising a public or nonpublic elementary or secondary school or a child care facility.
    3. A person who resides within two thousand feet of the real property comprising a public or nonpublic elementary or secondary school, or a child care facility, commits an aggravated misdemeanor.
    4. A person residing within two thousand feet of the real property comprising a public or nonpublic elementary or secondary school or a child care facility does not commit a violation of this section if any of the following apply:
      a. The person is required to serve a sentence at a jail, prison, juvenile facility, or other correctional institution or facility.
      b. The person is subject to an order of commitment under chapter 229A .
      c. The person has established a residence prior to July 1, 2002, or a school or child care facility is newly located on or after July 1, 2002.
      d. The person is a minor or a ward under a guardianship.
2002 Acts, ch 1157, §3


Current SOM Layers

Registered Day Cares 2002

This layer includes all day care facilities registered before July 1st, 2002.  Any facilities that were registered after this date are not included.  Registered Day Cares show up on the map as brown-colored polygons.  The following picture shows how a registered day care facility parcel will show up on the map.




            Licensed Day Cares 2002

All licensed day cares in existence before July 1st, 2002 are included in this layer.  Licensed day cares are displayed on the map using a crosshatch pattern, as shown below.



            Schools 2002

The Schools 2002 layer is comprised of all schools that were in existence before July 1st, 2002.  Once again, all schools established post-July 1st, 2002 are not included.  Blue colored parcels are used to represent schools on the map, as shown in the following picture.




            *Note*

Some schools are considered to be licensed day cares as well.  These parcels are displayed on the map in blue, with crosshatch markings, as shown below.

Sex Offender Restricted Zone

This layer represents all areas in Johnson County where registered sex offenders are prohibited from residing.  These “No Live Zones” (NLZs) were created by establishing a 2000 foot buffer zone around all schools and day cares, both registered and licensed, that were active before July 1st, 2002.  These restricted zones show up on the map as reddish colored, circular buffers, as shown in the following graphic.  





Using the Sex Offender Mapping (SOM) Layers

Step 1:  Go to http://www.johnson-county.com/website/jcmap/run.htm.  Notice the groupings of layers on the left side of the screen.  If you click on the Sex Offender group, it will expand the folder and reveal the four layers listed above.

 

Step 2:  Click on the box next to the Sex Offender Restricted Zone to make that layer visible.

 

Step 3:  At this point, you can use the standard toolbar, located at the top of the screen, to navigate around the Johnson County GIS map.  Please refer here for help in using this toolbar.


http://www.johnson-county.com/website/jcmap/documentation/nav.htm

 

Step 4:  Once you have located the area you are looking for, make sure that you have the Sex Offender Restricted Zone layer turned on and you will be able to see if the parcel(s) in question are within any restricted zones. 

 


Example:  How to locate a specific address and determine if it is inside/outside of any restricted areas. 

 

In this example, we will determine if 913 South Dubuque Street, in Iowa City, is in a restricted zone or not.

 

Step 1:  Click here: http://www.johnson-county.com/website/jcmap/run.htm

 

Step 2:  Click the search button on the toolbar (binoculars).     In the window that appears type “913”  for the house number and “Dubuque” for the street name.  Now click the Search button. 


        Note:  Leave off any prefixes or suffixes such as North, South, Street, Road, etc.  Please see the

                    following picture.




Step 3:  In the next window, click on the correct parcel number hyperlink on the left.  In the following picture, you will see the hyperlink just to the left of the street address (in purple).  Clicking this will open a new window, showing the location of the parcel on the map.



Step 4:  Click on the Sex Offender layer folder on the left side of the screen to expand the contents of the folder.  Now, click in the square box to the left of the Sex Offender Restricted Zone layer to turn the layer on.  You will now see the reddish-colored restricted zone buffer overlaid over the top of the parcel, as seen here.






A parcel has to be completely outside of the Restricted Zone in order to be an acceptable place of residency.  As you can see, the parcel for 913 S. Dubuque St. is only partially within the restricted zone.   This would not be an acceptable place for a sex offender to live.