As a Sex Offender Unit, the Sheriff is mandated by North Carolina General Statues 14-208.5 through 14-208.45 which sets forth the requirement for the registration of sexual offenders convicted of certain offenses against minors, and sexually violent predators in the Sex Offender and Public Protection Registration File.  These laws require us to maintain registration and corresponding documentation for the lifetime of the offender, from the date the individual is released from a penal institution, or convicted but receives no active sentence of imprisonment. 

Documenting consist of completing the sex offender fingerprint card with the required data, fingerprinting the offender using the Printrac LiveScan fingerprinting system or manual inked system; assigning a New Hanover County Sheriff's Office identification number as a sex offender; the DCI entry registration which may be related to a pending record in the  system for those individuals who have been released from incarceration, individuals receiving no active time from court, and individuals moving into New Hanover County from other counties and states and in some circumstances where no prior record pending; Time frame for registration is immediately upon conviction with no active time receives, within 10 days after being released from a local jail or Department of Correction Facility, within 10 days of establishing residency in NC or present in NC for 15 days, which ever comes first, and within 10 days of being released from a Federal Penal Facility.

Establishment of the registration record begins the retention period for the lifetime requirement for regular sex offenders, aggravated sex offenders and sexually violent predators; photographing in a digital format a photo of the offender. The address verification process documents address verification for regular registered sexual offenders and address verification and GPS monitoring for aggravated offenders and sexually violent predators. Law requires the verification of address on the anniversary date of the initial registration. For a sexual offender the verification process is every 6 months for regular offenders and every 90 days for aggravated offenders and sexually violent predators. The letter will be mailed certified, return receipt requested to the sex offender with the green card going back to the Sheriff’s Office, Sex Offender Registration Unit. The unit will enter information into the Sex Offender Registration file through DCI. This process also requires trips to addresses to confirm the offender still lives there and/or that the offender has moved. In cases where the offender violates one of the registration statutes, felony warrants are drawn for the offender.