Chicago Police Department Adam Walsh Act Compliance Program

The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 (AWA) (Pub. L. 109-248, 42 U.S.C. § 16901, et seq) authorizes the Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking (SMART) Office to administer sex offender management grants. These grants assist state, local and tribal jurisdictions in implementing and/or enhancing sex offender registration and notification programs that support compliance with Title I of the AWA, known as the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA). SORNA was enacted to protect the public from convicted sex offenders and offenders against children by establishing a comprehensive national system for the registration of those offenders.

In order to comply with the requirements of SORNA, the City of Chicago has identified the following goals: 1) enhance the sex offender registration and other units within the Chicago Police Department (CPD); 2) enhance absconder apprehension rates; and 3) develop digital, automated systems to enhance CPD's capacity to collect, store, analyze, utilize and share sex registration data. The CPD will accomplish these goals through implementing a comprehensive records check of all registered sex offenders in order to determine registration status of sex offenders and conducting residence checks on all sex offenders identified as non-compliant. The CPD will enhance its registration data system and information sharing through transitioning from a stand alone sex offender database to inclusion of this information in the CLEAR system. The CLEAR system will allow for a more easily-updatable and more easily-accessible database with centralized storage of information and will facilitate the coordination of multiple agencies.

ca/ncf