So many sex offenders in Ringgold GA? (real estate, crimes)

[puppylove]

We have been looking online at real estate in the Ringgold GA area. Seems you can get a really nice house at a reasonable price. According to city data 1 in every 65 residents is a registered sex offender? Please tell me about the area.

[orlandoman]

Wow!What is the deal here?One in every 60?I just bought a home here.Is it really that bad?

[orlandoman]

Would someone please respond to this topic.It's very alarming!I've check quite a few area's near with a fraction of 30736.Is this a "local" secret?Most of the crimes were against children.

[jkmewright]

I have just done some research on similar sized towns in this area (both in TN and GA) and found a few that have just about the same rep and cannot come to any conclusion to help you other than this article and some random guesses. It seems that your area has some pretty serious enforcers and in a community as small as Ringgold they may have a better chance to catch AND convict these criminals, thus bringing the numbers up. Just my guess as the county has a reported 98% conviction rate (quoted directly from sheriff's office). Also, as a whole, the county's stats look pretty good for what it's worth. However, there are rising incidents of meth use in our area which can/will/does contribute to child abuse IMHO. I live nearby in Chattanooga and a family member works for DHS in Ringgold and neither of us have had any alarming red flag reports. I will keep an eye out for more info. Hope this helps.

http://news.mywebpal.com/news_tool_v...ryID=3418&on=1

The following link is for catoosa county news, ringgolds local paper so you can do some "local" research for yourself.
www.catoosanews.com

[urbaneruralite]

I'd check the wording of the law before coming to any conclusions. In many places, having been convicted of statutory rape puts you on the list. That sounds bad, until you realize it stems from disputes between parents and their daughter over the young man she has chosen to marry and other domestic squabbles.

Many of those sex offenders may just be men who married young and had a hard time of it.

[tony aboyoun]

every week or two i check the gbi web site to map out sex offenders in my area and let my kids know who to look out for

[paulainga1]

Originally Posted by puppylove

We have been looking online at real estate in the Ringgold GA area. Seems you can get a really nice house at a reasonable price. According to city data 1 in every 65 residents is a registered sex offender? Please tell me about the area.

I dont know about that area specifically but I do know of a great website that gives by city or by address specific info on sex offenders National Sex Offender Registry

[interestedcitizen]

I have lived in Ringgold for 13 years and am really surprised to read about the statistics on sex offenders. I am involved in the education system here and have not heard much about this problem. I have raised two daughters here and found no problems at all. I am not saying this statistic is not true, but I feel like the previous responder who advises to check this out further.

[Alex Libman]

The variation probably comes not from the quantity of sexually-deviant individuals but strictness of law enforcement. You urinate outdoors, a cop sneaks up on you, WHAM, you're a sex offender. On a long enough time-line, every un-castrated male would end up as one.

[atlantagreg30127]

Originally Posted by Alex Libman

The variation probably comes not from the quantity of sexually-deviant individuals but strictness of law enforcement. You urinate outdoors, a cop sneaks up on you, WHAM, you're a sex offender. On a long enough time-line, every un-castrated male would end up as one.

Exactly.

Folks can't live their lives based on internet sex offender listings. Truth be told, only about one in every five people who commit a sex offending act is ever actually caught - so you could move to Mayberry USA and actually have several people in your own neighborhood who MIGHT be something to worry about, but who have never been caught or convicted so don't show up on registries. Likewise, there may be cases where an 18 year old boy gets into trouble with a 16 year old girl and has to register, but obviously wouldn't be a threat to young kids the same way a registered child molester would, yet, both are on the same registry online.

If you "study" the registers long enough the trend does seem that smaller towns in general have a much higher percentage of registered offenders than larger cities do. In fact, it's just because they stand out more in a smaller town, people talk more, and they stand a greater chance of getting caught at it. Your best bet is to simply teach your kids not to enter a strangers car or house (male OR female), don't go off with them, etc. Teach them that police are not bad people, designate a "safe neighbor" they can run to if needed, etc etc ..