ALVARADO (CBSDFW.COM) – Registered sex offenders living in the Texas city of Alvarado are facing a strict ordinance on Halloween: Place two city-provided signs in front of their homes or face a $1,000 fine.
Registered offenders are required to post the yard signs, which read "SEX OFFENDER RESIDENCE", on Oct. 30 and Oct. 31 from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m.
"If they don't have them out there on those times, we have officers out checking on that and it's $1,000 per sign per incident," said Alvarado Chief of Police Brad Anderson.
The signs are meant to educate trick-or-treaters on the location of sex offenders, but in practice, the signs might be doing much more.
Since 2010, when the ordinance was put in place, the number of registered sex offenders in Alvarado has decreased from 25 to 13, according to Anderson.
"It's been great," said Anderson. "The only people that don't like it are the sex offenders. Everybody else loves it."
Alvarado also has strict residency requirements, separating sex offenders from where children might be.
