The 1999 launch of the Public Sex Offender Registry Inquiry allowed Michigan residents to search a computer database for convicted sex offenders in their city.

But state police officials and national lobbyists hope the Campus Sex Crimes Prevention Act will enable college students to know about offenders on campus, too.

“I think the benefit of this is that it’s going to allow students, faculty and everyone on campus information as to who’s sitting next to them or living across the hall from them,” said Tim Bolles, criminal identification team manager for the Michigan State Police. “It’s going to make everyone more aware of the people around them so they can take precaution.”

The act says anyone enrolled or employed at a university or college in the United States who was convicted of a sex crime must register with campus police by Oct. 28, 2002.

Bolles said offenders must register their name, address and exact position. But Michigan residents should know the crimes listed are not insignificant, he said.

“They’re more serious,” he said. “If someone got arrested for mooning somebody, which would fall under indecent exposure, it takes three of those (convictions). One time will not be on the list. Most of them are felonies, which are pretty serious.”

Wendy Wagenheim, spokeswoman for the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, said police should be cautious when tracking sex offenders.

“There have been so many changes in the registry since its inception,” she said. “The police used to maintain it, but now it’s a public document. Should that information be released and the level of the crime not with it, it could end a kid’s life.”

MSU police Chief Bruce Benson, said the act will serve as a supplement to the existing registry.

“Here in Michigan, it’s not going to make much of a difference because sex offenders already have to register with their local community and their names and information about them is available about them on the Web site,” he said. “I think it’s an issue as a right to know. There have been extreme examples in other communities where someone is a brutal, vicious rapist and goes to prison and gets released to a different community and nobody knows who he is.

“Even though these kinds of things are extremely rare, it’s important for the average citizen to be able to know these people who may be living near them. Then people can make their own choices.”

The act was created with the help of Security On Campus Inc. a national campus crime prevention group.

S. Daniel Carter, senior vice president of the organization, said the act will repair registry loopholes.

“There were concerns about campus police not knowing about registered sex offenders on campus or if they knew about them, not being able to warn students about what they perceived to be possible dangers,” he said. “We set about trying to develop a solution.”

Staff writer Megan Frye contributed to this report.