CPD Says Sex Offender Registry Is Back Open, But Offenders Now Say They Can't Get Through
CHICAGO (CBS) -- For months, sex offenders In Chicago were given a grace period.
The registration office was closed due to COVID-19, to the dismay of some of their victims.
Now, the office is back open. And yet, some sex offenders who are trying to do the right thing and register told CBS 2 Investigator Megan Hickey they can't get through.
Chicago Police told Hickey on Thursday that the office is finally open. But because it was closed for so long, there is a backlog, and he phone lines are busy.
Their advice is to just keep trying.
The Criminal Registration Unit at Chicago Public Safety Headquarters, 3510 S. Michigan Ave., had been shuttered since March.
But as of Sept. 15, the CPD said it is finally accepting appointments via two dedicated phone lines.
But there's a problem.
"The number they told me to call - I called that first. Beep!" said Eduardo Burgos, who is trying to update his registration.
Burgos, who needs to change his address, said he can't get through. He said he has been trying to register "this time, for about a month."
This week, another Chicago sex offender reached out with the same problem.
"'Hey, check back in two weeks.' 'Sorry, we don't have any information for you,'" he said. "You know what, if you're trying, what if you're trying to make a change? Every turn, it can start to seem like all the doors are closed."
The CPD said that because of the backlog, officers have also been directed not to arrest an individual solely for being late to register due the circumstances.
Burgos was arrested in suburban Summit for failing to register.
"I got arrested two days ago and charged," he said.
But Burgos was also told he can't register in Summit until his appointment with Chicago Police, which he hasn't gotten yet.
"'Why didn't you do anything?' they said," Burgos said. "Well, I did."
Burgos wants more manpower dedicated to the phone lines and to appointments - not just for the sake of sex offenders.
But for the sake of their victims as well.
"The only other option is to go to jail, you know?" he said.
Chicago Police say a letter was mailed to registrants about the office closing in March. It can be shown to any officer who inquires about their status.
Meanwhile, with six months behind us now since sex offenders have been able to update their addresses, the question remains as to how many addresses in the Chicago Police database are out of date.
There are more than 2,600 registered sex offenders in the city of Chicago alone, and even before COVID-19, the CBS 2 Investigators found plenty of addresses that were wrong, out of date, or blatantly fake. Thus, it is hard to tell how this lapse in registration will affect the registry overall.
Another study looked at sex offender programs across the country, and found while it's not unheard of to suspend registrations, it isn't very common.
TheCrimeReport.org discovered out of 182 agencies, only a dozen halted registrations because of the virus.
A total of 44 are allowing sex offenders to register by phone or online, while 126 - more than half - still require in person registration.
