There are more than 200 registered sex offenders residing in Renton currently and the King County Sexual Assault Resource Center wants people to be aware of the resources that are available to the public.

Sexual Assault Awareness Month is April this year and the organization has several events planned for the month-long campaign.

KCSARC will offer two “Family and Community Safety” presentations with pizza for the public.

The presentations are 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., April 10 and April 18 at the center.

They will offer prevention tips, the three most important things to learn about sexual offenders and offenses and community resource contacts.

The talk will also feature an explanation of the coordinated system for managing sex offenders in the community.

There will be a panel of experts from law enforcement, corrections, sex- offender treatment and victim’s advocacy.

KCSARC and the King County Sex Offender Management Team created the presentations because they thought they could be more effective at educating the community in such a setting.

“When the community was coming to community notification meetings after a sex offender was released back into a neighborhood, oftentimes that education piece wasn’t able to be heard because there was a lot of emotions in the room at the time,” said Lindsay Palmer.

Palmer is the KCSARC director of education and prevention.

Most often, the community becomes aware of sex offenders in their neighborhood if they have signed up for Offender Watch, an e-mail notification system. If residents live in unincorporated King County, they get a flyer in the mail.

“But, with budget cuts in particular this is one of the pieces that has gone down,” said Dana Hufford, community corrections specialist with the Department of Corrections. “I know in Renton they have been doing their community notification meetings for Level 3 sex offenders and have had zero to extremely low attendance.”

The April presentations are a way to proactively reach the community before a sex offender moves into their neighborhood.

“I think there is a lot of evidence-based research out there that indicates that collaboration is really a key and in particular working with sex offenders,” she said.

The work goes something like this. The police watch the sex offender and the Department of Corrections has a relationship with the offender and they communicate to police. Victims’ advocates are also monitoring the situation.

“The bigger the net, the more effective we’re going to be,” said Hufford.

The April presentations are the first to be done in conjunction with Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

The groups have been giving the talks for the past year and a half as part of a grant they were awarded.

King County has the highest number of sex offenders in the state, according to KCSARC with 4,030 individuals. Pierce County follows with 2,659 offenders and Spokane County with 1,385.

KCSARC also reports that of the offenders, 72 percent are known to or related to their victims.

“Aside from the education piece, we really want to make it an opportunity for community members to be able to hook up with the resources that are part of the sex offender management system,” said Hufford.

Such lines of communication will help people if they see something suspicious, she said.

The other piece to their Sexual Assault Awareness Month is a sticker campaign called “Stick It To Silence.”

People can sign up to receive stickers with KCSARC’s 24-hour resource phone number on them.

The stickers are for posting at businesses or gathering places throughout the community.

For more information on that campaign visit: http://www.kcsarc.org/saam2012

KCSARC Sexual Assault Awareness Month events:

WHAT: Family and Community Safety Presentations & Pizza (adult appropriate only)

WHEN: 6 p.m. – 7:30 p.m., April 10 and 18

WHERE: KCSARC Offices, 200 Mill Ave. S., Suite 10, in Renton

COST: Free

REGISTER: RSVP to lpalmer@kcsarc.org

KRAV MAGA RENTON DOJO

(separate from the KCSARC events)

WHAT: Rape Prevention Class (must be 16 years or older)

WHEN: 1 p.m. – 4 p.m., April 21 and 28

WHERE: 900 S. Grady Way, in Renton

COST: $25

REGISTER: www.kravmagarenton.com