PARKS — St. Martin Parish residents can find convicted sex offenders living in their neighborhoods with just a few clicks of a mouse.

St. Martin Parish Sheriff Ronny Theriot announced Thursday the launch of a new program called Offender Watch. The service, available through the sheriff’s Web site: www.stmartinsheriff.org, allows residents to search for registered sex offenders by name and address.

“We can’t tell people where to live once they get out of jail,” Theriot said. “But we can notify you as to where they’re living, so you can be aware.”

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By typing in an address, residents can view a list of sex offenders living within one mile of their home, business or child’s school. Each entry contains the offender’s physical description, photograph, charges and other information.

The program also allows residents to sign up for e-mail alerts when a sex offender moves into their area.

Theriot said the service was designed to keep residents better informed about the 103 registered sex offenders living in St. Martin Parish.

“We want them to be on their guard to help us, kind of like a neighborhood watch program,” he said. “If they see something out of order, they can give us some information and we can investigate.”

Theriot said the Offender Watch program was designed to bring the sheriff’s office into compliance with the recently enacted Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act. The act created a national sex offender registry and requires each state to post offender data on the Internet.

The act also requires sex offenders to register in the parish they reside for 15 years, 25 years or life, depending on the severity of their offense. Tier 3 offenders, the most serious, must update their whereabouts every three months.

To comply with the additional mandates, Theriot recently created a Sex Offender Compliance Unit. The unit, headed by Lt. Robley Picard, will handle offender registration, address verification and public notification full-time.

Picard said the sheriff’s office already has sent a letter to each sex offender in the parish to inform them of the new registration requirements.

He said the sheriff’s office would also be paying random visits to offenders’ addresses to make sure they are in compliance.

“It doesn’t mean that they won’t commit another crime,” Theriot said. “It means that we know where they are in our parish.”

Picard said residents should not use the system to take retribution against sex offenders.

He said anyone with concerns about sex offenders living in their neighborhoods should contact the sheriff’s office.

“It’s just a way for them to be aware of the whereabouts of these sex offenders,” Picard said. “That way, they can keep an eye out for their children.”