Sexual Offender Surveillance Squad

In January of 2001, Sheriff Beary recognized the need for a full time squad to work with the sex offender population in Orange County. The SOS Squad (Sexual Offender Surveillance Squad) was formed. They quickly adopted the philosophy of a total sex offender management program, not only working criminal investigations on offenders but assisting offenders in the reintroduction into the community. The members are specially trained to deal with sexual predators, offenders, and sexual deviants

A Look to the Future

As the SOS Squad looked to the future there was one thing that stood out. We (law enforcement) needed to work together if there was ever a hope in managing Florida's sex offender population. To accomplish this, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, joined the Central Florida Sexual Offender Task Force. The vision of the task force is to manage the sex offender population in the same manner and share intelligence information regarding sex offenders. Each agency will complete address verification, criminal investigations, and management of the sex offenders in the same manner, keeping the Task Force "Vision" in mind. The task force has become a model in the state and is envisioned to grow across the entire state of Florida. The task force is comprised of the following agencies to date; Orange County Sheriff’s Office, Orlando Police Department, Winter Park Police Department, Maitland Police Department, Windermere Police Department, Eatonville Police Department, Apopka Police Department, Oakland Police Department, Edgewood Police Department, Winter Garden Police Department, Ocoee Police Department, Palm Bay Police Department, Ocseola County Sheriff's Office, Seminole County Sheriff's Office, Sumter County Sheriff's Office, Lake County Sheriff's Office, Hernando County Sheriff's Office, Indian River County Sheriff's Office, Polk County Sheriff's Office, Volusia County Sheriff's Office, United States Marshal Service, Florida Department of Law Enforcement, 9th Circuit State Attorney's Office, Orlando Region Probation Parole,

In July of 2006, President Bush signed "The Adam Walsh Child Protection And Safety Act Of 2006. In responced to this new law, the Orange County Sheriff's Office, joined forces with the United States Marshal Service to locate and arrest those sex offenders who travel across state lines and fail to register. In October of 2006, a US Deputy Marshal was assigned as a fulltime "Board of Directors" position with the Central Florida Sexual Offender Task Force. Deputy Marshal Laura Sofia was assigned to work Adam Walsh cases and to assist Task Force members with the apprehension of absconded offenders. In January of 2007, Wilfredo Madera pled guilty to violations of the Adam Walsh Act. This is the first conviction under the new law. (read US Marshal press release)

The SOS Squad is available for community meetings or to assist the community in any manner that is needed in regards to sexual predator, offender, or deviant issues.   

If you have information about a Sexual Predator or Sexual Offender, PLEASE DO NOT TAKE ANY ENFORCEMENT ACTION!  Contact your local Police Department or the Orange County Sheriff's Office Sexual Offender Surveillance Squad at: 407-254-7000

Important Links

The Orange County Sheriff’s Office and the SOS Squad would like to provide you with the "Important Links" section on the top of this page. We feel that the information that is contained in these links is very important and helpful. Please take the time to visit these websites and share in our vision that, “NO CHILD’S INNOCENCE SHOULD BE OVERLOOKED”. We need to all work together to make the community a safer place for our children.

In Closing

Sheriff Kevin Beary, the members of the Sexual Offender Surveillance Squad, and the Central Florida Sexual Offender Task Force are committed in making Orange County a safe place to live and raise our children.