ST. LANDRY PARISH, La. (KLFY)- It’s not unusual to see law enforcement officers patrolling the streets on Halloween night, making sure that everybody is safe when trick or treating.

And deputies at the St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office will be doing that, but they’ll have a specific purpose in mind; they’ll be making sure everyone is safe from registered sex offenders in the area.

“All the neighborhoods where we have the highest volume of trick or treaters, we have extra units patrolling. Also in those areas, my officers are given spreadsheets of all the sex offenders in the area and they’re gonna go check on them,” explained Mike Soileau, supervisor of the sex offender unit for SLPSO.

He adds, “If they’re out here and they’re legally with their children, not dispensing candy, not wearing a mask, we’ll let them go. But if it is one that is in a high restrictive group, I’m gonna have that officer immediately take him into custody and he’s gonna be booked for unlawful presence of a sex offender.”

In addition to that patrol, Soileau says he will personally take extra precautions, “My partner and I, Det. Reed, we’ll have another unit that’s going to do compliance checks on all the offenders that we have determined are the highest risk for children.”

He says the sex offender unit has been preparing for this night for over a month, but all of the work they’ll be putting in Halloween night serves one purpose.

“To mainly reassure that we’re out there to protect them and their children. We want them to feel safe,” Soileau said. “We don’t want them to feel on edge or get anxiety saying ‘do I have to worry about a sex offender?’ We take care of that so they don’t have to worry.”

You can click here for a link to the St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office sex offender registry, to find out what sex offenders live near you.