from ABC News
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — The sex offender management board met in Bakersfield Tuesday to discuss protection from violent sex offenders.
Their mission is to decrease sexual predator offenses and increase community safety.

California has more registered sex offenders than any other state with about 88,000 identified sex offenders.
Kern County has just over 1,500 sex offenders, 1,200 of them living in Bakersfield.
“Not everybody who is a registered sex offender is a violent sex offender,” said an unidentified man who is a registered sex offender. “It makes life hard. It makes it difficult to get understanding. I can see both sides…I know because I have four kids.”
The board met with community members and law enforcement to gather information on how to better protect victims.
The goal was to get feedback from the community then take that information back to lawmakers.
They heard testimony Tuesday from sex offenders, community members and local government.
“How are we going to manage the sex offender and maybe ease a little bit of that fear? I don’t think the total elimination of that fear will ever leave,” Tehachapi City Councilmember Ed Grimes said. “Because the sex offender is the one word or one crime that offends us all.”
Once a sex offender is released from prison they are usually placed on parole for a few years.
Bakersfield Police Department and Sheriff’s Department officials check on sex offenders to make sure they live where they say they are living and drive the vehicles they say they are driving.