Sheriff Jimmy McDuffie has asked Effingham County commissioners to fund a new position to handle sex offender registration at the sheriff’s office.

Around $27,000 in salary and a patrol car are needed for the post.

On July 1 he moved one of his four school resource officers into the newly created job. Doing so reduced the number of officers out in the community by one. Instead of 28 officers, he now has 27.
However, McDuffie believes that the position was needed.

“This code section is so large; I didn’t have a choice,” he said, referring to Georgia’s official code related to sex offenders.

It is 27 pages long and meeting its requirements was more than the two part-timers assigned to it could handle.
One officer registered the offenders while the other checked on where the offenders lived, making sure they were at least 1,000 feet away from facilities frequented by children.

There are 68 registered sex offenders living in Effingham, according to McDuffie. McDuffie said new offenders are always being added to the registry and old ones are always moving. It’s not just a matter of registering them and sending them on their way, he said.

“We have to notify GBI, we gotta make sure they show up — it’s an ongoing, everyday saga,” said the sheriff.

There are more than 300 registered sex offenders in Chatham County and as more and more residents from there move here, inevitably some of them will be sex offenders, too. There also are those offenders who live in Chatham County, but work here in Effingham County.

So far, there are four sex offenders who live in Chatham County who come here to work, according to McDuffie.
It’s possible that he may need more than one person to handle the registry requirements in the future.

“I don’t know right now,” he admitted.

However, he is sure that this will be a permanent position at the sheriff’s office. And he is adamant about the need for it.

McDuffie cited the tragic death of 6-year-old Christopher Barrios Jr. of Glynn County who was killed by a convicted child molester in March.

To McDuffie’s knowledge there are no sexual predators (such as the alleged suspects in the Barrios case) registered in the county, but rather “offenders of opportunity.”

Yet, it’s important to stay on top of the registry to keep families in the county safe, according to the sheriff.

“I gave up six positions, but I had to have this one,” said McDuffie. “That’s probably one of the most important positions we could ever have.”