Tim Fox, a Republican candidate for attorney general, said this month, he'd fix the state's sexual offender registry within six months of taking office and make tracking and prosecuting sex offenders a top priority.

Currently, Fox said, about 60 percent of the sex offenders listed in the state registry have no accompanying photograph as required by state law.

In some counties, more than half of the sexual offenders on the registry have no photos, according an audit of the registry conducted by the Fox campaign.

"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand that these folks present a huge risk to Montana communities," Fox said. Photos "are the best piece of information that a parent can have to protect themselves from these types of people."

Fox and Lee Bruner are the two Republican candidates running to be attorney general, the state's top lawyer and head of the Justice Department. The winner of the June 3 GOP primary contest will square off against one of three Democrats campaigning to be their party's nominee.

Earlier this month, Fox, a Helena lawyer, outlined a plan he would institute as attorney general to deal with sexual predators.

First, he would make sure every listing on the sexual offender registry has a photo. This shouldn't be too hard, he said, as every person on the list has already been arrested and convicted.

"There are pictures out there available," he said.

Second, he would make the registry itself easier to use and easier to find. Currently, the list is on the Department of Justice's Web site. Fox said he would make the registry more visible on the agency's own Web site and try to get as many state and local government sites to also include a link to the registry on their home pages.

Right now, people may search through the registry for specific names or people may request all the registrants in a given county, ZIP code or city.

Fox said he'd like people to be able to enter their address in and search for all registrants within a set distance, like half a mile. Fox also said offenders on the list should have to report their e-mail addresses and any screen names they use on networking Web sites like MySpace.

Fox said he would also try to post the photos in places other than the Internet. He said he'd like to see photos at courthouses, in newspapers and on television, especially if a sex offender was moving into an area.

Fox said he'd also make sure the Justice Department is doing what it can to help local prosecutors go after sex offenders.

He said those changes wouldn't cost much money and would help parents, teachers and others keep children safe.

Finally, he said that perpetrators and victims need to know that Montana takes such crimes very seriously. Montana rates second in the nation per capita for the number of sex offenders living here.

"That's an alarming statistic that solidifies the gravity of the problem," he said. "And it drives home the fact that (problems with the sex offender registry) are simply unacceptable."