You’d like to know if you were living next door to a registered sex offender, wouldn’t you?

We know we would.

A recent update to the Lee County Sheriff Office’s Web site enhances residents’ awareness of sex offenders in the area.

The site allows users to conduct a search for registered sex offenders living in their neighborhood, as well as the option of subscribing for e-mails alerts about sex offenders who plan to locate to the area.

While our editorial board acknowledged both sides of the issue, we believe this to be an invaluable tool for residents of Lee County.

Some may argue the features of the site are too intrusive, as they provides users with the names and addresses of registered sex offenders in the county, but this is information we think any family would want at its disposal.

Imagine you’re starting a family and have found the perfect home in the perfect neighborhood to begin raising your children.

For their well-being, you would want to know if you were planning to become the neighbor of a person who had previously committed some form of sexual abuse.

Even if this information wouldn’t keep a family from moving into a certain home or a certain neighborhood, we still see merit in the site providing this information.

Simply knowing where these people reside we feel is something any caring parent should be concerned about, and if the site increases a family’s awareness of the neighborhood and tightens the parents’ concern for where their children go, it’s a good thing.

We don’t believe offenders found on the site should be so blatantly singled out to the point it’s the equivalent of a Wild West “Wanted” sign or being shunned in the stocks in the town square, but we do applaud the awareness and heightened safety the Web site provides to families of Lee County.

That said, for our editorial board’s contrasting view, read below.