The Simi Valley Police Department conducted its first-ever sweep of the city’s registered sex offenders last Saturday and found that four were in violation of state-mandated rules.

In the early morning hours of Dec. 12, the department’s detective unit executed a large-scale operation to confirm that 105 registered sex offenders living within the city were in compliance with their California registration requirements.

A total of 30 officers, nearly all from Simi PD, performed residence checks to verify the information provided by registrants. The department had help from the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department and California State Parole.

Together, the officers contacted 97 registrants out of the 105.

State law requires that a registered sex offender register once a year with the law enforcement agency in the jurisdiction in which they reside or every 30 days if the registrant is homeless. Sexually violent predators must register every 90 days.

Registrants must also update their information within five days of changing their address or becoming homeless.

In addition, registrants must report where they are working and the type of vehicle they drive, Simi Detective Lt. Stephanie Shannon said.

“We want to keep close tabs on these folks because you want to keep them on the radar, you want to monitor their behavior, you want to make sure they are in compliance, which in this case a majority of them were,” she said. “And you want to make sure they are keeping the police department informed of any changes.”

In regard to the four found in violation, Shannon said, a family member at each of their last reported residences said the registrant had moved. None of the four violators is currently on probation or parole.

Detectives have requested arrest warrants from the district attorney’s office and will be pursuing criminal charges for those violations.

In addition, Simi detectives are following up on making contact with the eight registrants who weren’t home during the operation.

While Simi actually has 115 registered sex offenders, the sweep didn’t include 10 transients.

The total number of registrants, which includes just two females, is consistent with that of other jurisdictions, Shannon said, noting that a registrant or a parolee cannot choose to live in Simi arbitrarily—they must have a valid reason to live in the city, such as family ties.

Shannon said sweeps like this one—which she considers extremely successful—are important because they help build confidence with the public that the offenders are not a danger to the community.

“I think some people would suggest that it was successful because the majority of people were in compliance, which is a positive, but I would argue that the success is based on the fact that we were able to (determine) . . . four people were not in compliance and now we are able to address those people and deal with them accordingly,” she said.

Shannon said the department plans to perform these types of sweeps on an annual or semi-annual basis.

In addition to large-scale sweeps, detectives routinely conduct compliance checks throughout the year. The detective unit actively monitors all of its registrants with the use of the department’s computerized registrant database, which includes current information and photos.

“As soon as somebody does not check in on their anniversary date, we are immediately pursuing that as a violation of their terms,” Shannon said. “It’s a very quick and expedient process because of our computer system, and we a have a flag system in place that notifies us when someone doesn’t check in. It doesn’t happen often but it does happen.”

The unit also regularly updates the Megan’s Law website with the most current information available on its registrants. For more information, visit the website at www.meganslaw.ca.gov.