Dear New Yorkers,
I have made clear throughout the fiscal crisis that despite our financial difficulties, New York will not shirk from the most fundamental of government obligations – the protection of its citizenry and of its communities. With that in mind, I would like to inform you of an important new initiative I signed and enacted into law that will enable you to automatically receive an alert when a moderate or high-risk sex offender moves into an area of interest to you or your family, NY-ALERT.

Through this new service, you can be notified by e-mail, text message, fax or telephone when a sex offender moves into or out of your community, or even when an offender relocates within a certain radius (from a quarter mile to 25 miles) of your home.

Here’s how it works: As part of the NY-ALERT system, through which 5.8 million New Yorkers receive alerts on everything from natural disasters to traffic congestion. Now, you have an option to sign up for sex offender alerts. After registering at http://www.ny.gov/governor/ and choosing various options, such as how you want to be notified and your regions of interest, you will receive sex offender relocation notices whenever a Level 2 (moderate risk) or Level 3 (high risk) sex offender listed on the public Sex Offender Registry moves into or out of your designated community of concern. If you do not have access to a computer, you can also subscribe to this important system by calling 1-888-697-6972 Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

In addition to signing NY-ALERT into law, I have enacted several significant measures to protect New York’s children and families including signing a law (E-STOP) that requires sex offenders to submit their internet information, including e-mail addresses and screen names to the Sex Offender registry; enacting one of the toughest DWI laws in the country, the Child Passenger Protection Act (also known as Leandra’s Law); and signed into law legislation ending the practice of allowing the State’s most violent felons to receive credit for prior sentences, and thereby become eligible for parole far earlier than intended.

Together with the NY-ALERT legislation sponsors, Senator Jeff Klein and Assembly Member Rory Lancman, we will further enhance New York’s efforts at protecting our children and families. I hope that you and your neighbors will take advantage of this important, new service.

                 Best, David A. Paterson

                 Governor of New York State