Map information comes from the Illinois Sex Offender Registry

Patch has expanded the Halloween registered sex offender map to include the 77 convicted sex offenders living in Oak Lawn, Burbank, Alsip, Hickory Hills, Worth and Chicago Ridge by popular demand. (There were no sex offenders listed on the state registry for Hometown.)

Enter Patch's Halloween costume contest and you might walk away with a bundle of cash.

Before you take the kids out trick or treating tonight, take a look at the registered sex offenders living in your area:

• Oak Lawn (red flags) - 26
• Burbank (yellow-orange flags) - 10
• Alsip (blue flags) - 8
• Chicago Ridge (green flags) - 9
• Worth (black flags) - 17
• Hickory Hills (purple flags) - 7

By rolling your cursor over the flags, you'll see not only where the registered sex offender lives, but the sex crimes for which he or she was convicted.

Find Your Local Trick-or-Treating Hours

Use common sense when taking your kids out trick or treating tonight:

• Stay close to home and on familiar streets when trick or treating.
• Avoid trick or treating at apartment complexes, mobile home parks and other multiple dwellings, unless you know the people living there.
• Chaperone young children when trick or treating, especially after dark. Some suggest that 10 years old is an age when kids can branch off and make the rounds with their friends. Nobody knows your kids better than you, so use your best judgement.
• Take your cell phone or give your kids a cell phone to use if they're going out trick or treating by themselves. You'll want to get pictures anyway.
• Bring a flashlight and/or equip your trick-or-treaters with flashlights, reflector tape on costumes, etc. when out after dark.
• Don't eat stuff out of the bag until you can get it home and look at the contents under the light. Although Snopes.com claims to have proven the old razor-blades-in-the-candy-bar stories to be urban myths, you can never be too careful. 

Most of all, be safe and have fun tonight. Halloween is still a great holiday for children and adults, so enjoy yourselves. Your local police will be driving around checking on sex offenders, who are prohibited by law from going outside in costume or handing out candy.

Read more about Illinois's Sex Offender Registry and criminal statutes.

Check out more Patch Halloween coverage: 

• I Was a Paintball Zombie: Actors Spend Night as the Walking Dead
• Halloween Guide: Haunted Houses Abound in October
• Halloween Guide: Where to Find the Best Costumes
• Scare Your Kids Into Reading with These Books for Halloween
• Pick a Treat: What's Your Must-Have Halloween Candy?

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