MERIDIAN TOWNSHIP - The Michigan Sex Offenders Registration Act requires registered sex offenders to regularly report their address to local law enforcement in a effort to inform Michigan residents where accused sex offenders reside.

But is Michigan's sex offender registry list helpful, or does it give residents a false sense of security?

With the click of a mouse just about anyone can search local sex offenders on Michigan's Public Sex Offender Registry.

A registry that was built to protect citizens like Kaitlin Markstrom, against future criminal sexual acts by convicted sex offenders.

"I feel better knowing we can look up and see who they are, but it's always scary but the more you know the scarier it is," said Markstrom.

Scary because some registered sex offenders are offending again.

In recent news, an Okemos man on Michigan's sex offender registry has recently been charged as a habitual offender and as a sexually delinquent person with two counts of sexual assault in the second degree.

That man was Joshua Harding, who police say assaulted two children at the East Lawn Memory Gardens April 1st. But this wasn't Harding's first offense; leaving residents asking how and why registered sex offenders are able to offend again.

"It doesn't make you feel safe, you know that police aren't doing everything they can to stop these people from offending," said Emily Freybler.

But Meridian Township Police Lieutenant Greg Frenger says his staff keeps high tabs with those on the list.

"We do regular checks at least once a year, often twice a year. We'll send officers out to specific locations for those individuals because they're no longer in prison and typically they're no longer on probation or parole, so having some contact and someone keeping track of their location is very important," Frenger said.

Frenger says that most offenders are in compliance with the law, but if police find that listed information is false, or if an individual fails to report, or assaults again, criminal charges will be filed.

And with Joshua Harding, that's exactly what was done.

"Our hope is to not be allowed to offend ever again because he will spend the rest of his life in prison," Frenger said.

Whether he serves life or not, now lies in the hands of a judge.

Joshua Harding is currently being held in the Ingham County Jail.