Start-up funding for the Pueblo of Laguna Adam Walsh Act Implementation Plan (POL-AWA-IP)

The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 (AWA) (Pub. L. 109-248, 42 U.S.C. § 16901, et seq) authorizes the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking (SMART) 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.

This project will work towards ensuring that the Pueblo of Laguna is compliant with SORNA through the creation of a regulatory scheme that will enhance the existing laws and resources for the Pueblo to enforce the SORNA provisions. The following goals have been identified for the project: 1) development and training of a specialized unit of law enforcement with the primary duty of registering and monitoring sex offenders living within the Pueblo of Laguna; 2) establishment of multi-jurisdictional partnerships in order to communicate effectively with other local jurisdictions and their officers charged with enforcing the SORNA provisions; 3) development of a comprehensive sex offender registration scheme that will collect, store, analyze, and use offender biometric data (finger and palm prints and DNA) for enforcement purposes; and 4) establishment of a tribal sex offender task force to oversee implementation of the project and compliance with SORNA.

ca/ncf