Audit finds potentially thousands of incorrect addresses in Michigan sex offender registry

AnewauditofMichigan’sSexOffenderRegistryhasuncoveredaccuracyissues,includingpotentiallythousandsofincorrectaddressesforregisteredoffenders. ThereportwasreleasedonThursday(Oct.16)bytheOfficeoftheAuditorGeneral. ThecomprehensivereviewexaminedwhethertheMichiganStatePolice(MSP)iseffectivelymaintainingthestate’ssexoffenderdatabase,whichcurrentlytracksapproximately44,000registeredoffendersasofJuly2024. Inarandomsampleof60registeredoffenders,theauditfoundthat9%hadaddressesthatdidn’tmatchtheirstateidentificationrecords. Thiscouldmeanmorethan2,700registrantsmaybelistedatanincorrectaddresswhencomparedtothefulldatabase. TheMichiganStatePoliceacknowledgedthattheyonlycompareaddresseswhenoffendersinitiallyregisterorwhentheymovetoorfromMichigan. Accordingtotheauditreport,MSPsaid,“Afteraregistrant’srecordisactivated,MSPdoesnothaveaprocessinplacetoperiodicallycompareMSORaddresseswiththeDOSdriver’slicensefi