Trick-or-treat safety tips include warnings about sex offenders on parole

Every Halloween, parents must consider a long list of safety tips for trick or treating, but there are a few that probably get overlooked, and one state agency wants to raise awareness about them.

For the last 22 years, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has been imposing special parole conditions on known sex offenders on Halloween.

Known as Operation Boo, the initiative imposes a special curfew that requires sex offenders to have their porch lights off. They also can’t have Halloween decorations on their home or offer trick-or-treat candy -- they can’t even answer the door.

Transient sex offenders must report to selected centers, where they will be watched between the hours of 5 p.m. and 10 p.m., when children will be out collecting candy.

There are 114,000 sex offenders statewide, but the corrections department is responsible for supervising only active parolees, who number around 5,860, according to the agency.

“That’s only about 4% of the total sex-offender population in the state,” the statement read. “Awareness can go a long way in helping keep children safe -- not just on Halloween, but all the time.”

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