A group that represents police officers in Seattle, King County and several other jurisdictions weighed in on Gov. Christine Gregoire's record regarding sex offenders today. The group -- the Law Enforcement Coalition for Dino Rossi -- held a lightly attended news conference in Seattle to talk up Rossi's plans to keep track of sex offenders via GPS tracking devices and release a new web ad featuring police officers.

Rossi advertisements have criticized Gregoire's handling of homeless sex offenders. There are 1,300 homeless sex offenders in the state, and the Department of Corrections only recently started using GPS tracking bracelets on the most violent offenders for the first month after their release. After Rossi began criticizing Gregoire on the issue, a group of law enforcement officials and prosecuting attorneys held a press conference to defend Gregoire's record.

Rich O'Neill, the president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild, said at today's press conference that Rossi, if elected, would "set the tone" of more accountability for sex offenders. He tied the homeless sex offender issue to other problems with DOC oversight: at least three police officers have been killed by felons under state supervision.

"We need a governor who will think of the rights of the victims and who will err on the side of keeping the felons where they belong -- behind bars," he said.

The new ad can be viewed here.

UPDATE: The Gregoire campaign e-mailed me to say: "Not only does Gov. Gregoire support GPS monitoring of sex offenders, but she has been a leader on the issue. She has expanded the program in our state and has given more resources to local law enforcement to track sex offenders."