Dougherty County Sheriff’s Office and other sheriffs’ offices ensure safety of communities in statewide sex offender verification checks initiative Operation Watchful Eye X

ALBANY, Ga. – Georgia Sheriffs have been quietly carrying out a state-wide initiative to help ensure the safety of their communities. The Office of Sheriff is mandated by law to register sex offenders and to keep the public informed of where registered sex offenders reside, work, and attend school.

During this statewide initiative, dubbed Operation Watchful Eye, sheriffs’ offices worked collectively, networked, and actively engaged their personnel by participating in statewide verification checks and addressing other non-compliant matters to make our state safer. Operation Watchful Eye has become an annual event. This year marked the 10th operation, and was called Operation Watchful Eye X.

This year’s initiative involved 87 Georgia Sheriff’s Offices. In many counties, U.S. Marshals, U.S. Probation officers, and Department of Community Supervision probation/parole officers assisted to verify sex offenders comply with the law. The operation was conducted from September 22-29, 2025, and resulted in 48 sex offenders being arrested and 235 warrants being issued across the state for violations of sex-offender registration laws.

Here in Dougherty County, there are currently 266 registered sex offenders. During this year’s operation, 60 address contacts were made and 13 warrants were issued.

For more information on the whereabouts of registered sex offenders in our community, go to www.DoughertySheriff.com and click on Sex Offender Registry; or you can go to http://gbi.georgia.gov/georgia-sex-offender-registry.

Copyright 2025 South Georgia News. All rights reserved.