Sex | Sex Offender Book Hopes To Resolve Growing Problem

Click here to visit the state's sex offender registry.

But officers said a book composed of a list of downtown Nashville's homeless sex offenders will help to resolve the problem and has already resulted in several arrests.

Police make sex offenders their business to keep up with them and to keep them away from children.

"I have two children myself. This is one reason this is so important to me and the officers at central (precinct) is that we get these dangerous felons away from our kids," Metro Police Lt. Horace Temple said.

But when the offenders are homeless, that makes the task a whole lot tougher.

"Being homeless, they're clearly mobile, so it would be easy for them to approach one of those locations they are prohibited from," Metro Police Cmdr. Jason Reinbold said.

Officers in Metro's central precinct recently designed the sex offender book.

Currently there are 75 that are known to live downtown. In the book, the public will find the person's picture and what they were charged with in the past.

"This book is no different than the information online available to any community member," Reinbold said.

Police said by having these books inside patrol cars, it makes it easier for the officers to see, recognize and make an arrest.

"As recently as a week and a half, two weeks ago, there was one (sex offender) on Saturday morning that was loitering in the park who actually had outstanding warrants pertaining to this sexual registry violation, so we were able to arrest him again for those warrants and then charge him for violating it," Temple said.

Since they've come up with the concept, Reinbold said the books, which cost the department just time, paper and ink, have already paid for themselves.

"We've actually made between 15 and 20 arrests this year alone off of that book, so it's been very beneficial to our officers that are on the street in the central precinct," he said.

This concept is currently only being used in Metro's central precinct, located downtown, mostly because that's where a majority of Nashville's homeless live and where they've seen this increased problem. Depending on how successful it is, other precincts may start using the books as well.

In Davidson County there are 1,674 men and women on the state's sex offender registry. Rutherford County came in second highest in Middle Tennessee with 341 offenders.

Sumner County is third with 223 offenders. There are an additional 124 offenders in Robertson County.

Click here to visit the state's sex offender registry.

There are some other specific features on that site, where you can do things like sign up for email notifications when an offender moves into your neighborhood.