The Whiteside County Sheriff has a plan to keep kids safe this Halloween.

Sheriff Kelly Wilhelmi is requiring all registered sex offenders on probation or court-assigned supervision to attend an informational meeting Saturday from 4:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. during trick or treating hours.

Sex offenders in Illinois who are on probation are not allowed to take part in Halloween festivities, so every year  Whiteside County sheriff's deputies spend hours on Halloween night checking to make sure those sex offenders are not breaking the law.  The idea behind the mandatory meeting is to free up those deputies.

When the county board asked Sheriff Wilhelmi to cut his budget this summer, he started thinking of ways to promote prevention and education to cut back on crime.  "We're pretty limited in what we can do; we can't hire anymore officers," he says.

Wilhelmi has three deputies on the streets at any given time and they're usually busy checking on sex offenders Halloween night.  "We would go around and have zones that we'd have a list for deputies and they would go and check on the residence of the registered sex offenders that were on probation," Wilhelmi says.  But this year, all those sex offenders will be in one place.  "So this way - by having them come here, we're not losing manpower out on the road."

That means this Halloween, those deputies can focus on drivers and kids instead.

The sheriff, a court official and an Illinois state police representative will oversee the meeting.  Wilhelmi says they'll be donating their time. "It's very economical, it doesn't cost taxpayers anything and it puts my guys back on the road where they belong."

Wilhelmi says the meeting is also a good reminder to moms and dads, "It makes parents more aware that there are dangers out there at the homes, as well as out on the street." 

There are 107 registered sex offenders in Whiteside County.  30 are on probation.  Those 30 will have to attend Saturday's meeting.  If they don't show up deputies will check on them and it could be considered a parole violation.

You can check to see where sex offenders might be living in your neighborhood.

In Illinois go to www.isp.state.il.us then click on the sex offender link. 

In Iowa log onto www.iowasexoffender.com