BENTON (WSIL) - For kids, trick-or-treating is all about the costumes and candy, but parents may have other concerns on their minds like where to go and who's behind the door with the candy bowl.
Costumes, glow sticks, and lots of candy! It's Halloween trick-or-treat tunnel vision for the kids. But parents have to be cognizant of where they're trick or treating and who they're getting candy from.
Benton Police Chief, Chris Funkhouser, said they perform focused patrols the night of trick-or-treating for that very reason.
"We'll do random checks with our registered sex offenders to make sure they're staying where they're supposed to be staying and compliant with the registration act," Funkhouser said about the city's designated trick-or-treating night.
Compliance includes not participating in events geared for children under the age of 18 or in trick or treating.
"It's against the law for them to participate in handing out candy to children during Halloween trick or treat hours," Funkhouser said.
And if they're non-compliant, "We would place them under arrest and take them to the county jail and have them processed for violation of the child registration act," explained Funkhouser.
But, he said, he wants parents to know that there are ways to head out for Halloween with an educated idea of which doors not to hit.
"I recommend the parents visit the Illinois State Police website and see the areas where these offenders live," Funkhouser said. "There's maps that they can look at to show exactly where these child sex offenders are residing, and I would avoid those places while out trick or treating."
Funkhouser went on to say that other Halloween safety include having a chaperone while trick-or-treating, making sure children are well lit and easily visible and checking candy for anything suspicious or in home-made wrapping.
You can find the Illinois State Police Sex Offender registry at:
The Franklin County Sheriff department's app also includes a link to the registry.
