Citizens can now access the sex offender registry by telphone, Attorney General Roy Cooper said Monday.

Cooper and the Governor's Crime Commission Chair Linda Hayes will announce new improvements to the NC Sex Offender Registry on Tuesday.

This new tool will be available to North Carolinians through the Statewide Automated Victim Assistance and Notification (SAVAN), which also provides victims of crime with access to automated information and notification about offender custody status changes and court case events.

People can also continue to visit www.ncdoj.gov to search for convicted sex offenders in their community, view maps and aerial photographs that show offenders' home addresses, and sign up to get email alerts about offenders in their area.

The news conference will take place at 10:30 a.m. at the Governor's Crime Commission Conference Room, 1201 Front Street, Suite 200 in Raleigh.