SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- There are several thousand sex offenders in Michiana. Do you know if any live near you? Local moms are taking matters into their own hands to protect their families.



Shara King uses her phone and the internet to stay up to date on who lives in her neighborhood.

"Within one mile of my home I get emails that tell me that someone new-a new predator is in the neighborhood. And it tells me their picture-it tells me everything," said King.



With a quick search on icrimewatch.net on her smart phone, King finds bios and addresses of registered sex offenders.



"You can search for a quarter mile, half mile, one mile. And it varies like work addresses. You can separate work addresses, second addresses, homes, it depends on how you look," said Shara King.



King recently moved out of the River Park neighborhood and this information made the move easier.



"I normally search for everything when I go on and look and when I looked at the River Park address, my old one, there was 43 within one mile," said King.



Regina Murat lives in River Park and recently posted an alert to the River Park Facebook page.



The post shows the picture and registry information for the neighborhood's newest offender.



"I just wanted the people of River Park to be aware because he is on Mishawaka Avenue and there are kids that walk up and down the street -so I want parents to be aware there's a new predator in the neighborhood," said Murat.



Murat used a different website called Alert ID but they're all designed for the same purpose.



"You put in your email and your address and they notify you whenever someone comes into your neighborhood that's a predator and they send you a picture and let you know," said Murat.



Registered sex offenders cannot live within 1,000 feet of a school or a park.



If you want to receive email alerts when an offender moves into your area-go to icrimewatch.net.