Austin sees hundreds of sex offender cases removed from police officer supervision due to defunding
Hundreds of convicted sex offenders are no longer being monitored by sworn police officers in Austin, Texas due to the city’s move to defund the police and cut police academy classes.
As of 2019, there were about 1,600 registered sex offenders in Austin according to the state’s sex offender database. There is no law preventing any of them from living near schools or other places where children tend to congregate, according to a local news report. About 650 of those cases were handled by officers who checked in on the registered sex offenders weekly to ensure they were where they reported themselves to be. But three of those officers were sent back to patrol as a result of the decision to defund the police, including slashing three cadet classes at the police academy, in August 2020. Defunding the police forced the department to cut the Sex Offender Apprehension and Registration Unit (SOAR).
They obviously had way more money than they needed anyway if they were checking on registrants who were not on any kind of supervision WEEKY. Even when on probation, I was checked on once a month. Glad they were defunded and can be used on patrol where they can be useful instead of wasting tax payer money.
Jed
The officer who checks on me use to come 4 times a year. Since the panda-demic, at one point it was 14 months between checks as long as I had registered when I was supposed to.
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻🤣🤣🤣
Oh wait… what happened to the false (but eternal) argument about how necessary and important the Registry is for public safety??
Doubtless, this is Austin PD’s effort to scare the public back into re-funding the PD:
“Sex offenders everywhere!! … And no one is watching them!!” 😱
David
Let us Pray to God that while they all are not being monitored, someone doesn’t do something stupid and mess it up for everyone.
Shucks. Darn.
So…do these individuals no longer have any state mandated reporting at all? Just free to go? If that’s the case, lets bring some if that to Florida.
Ben
I would hate to be there when they find out it was all a trap and they round everyone up and find them all out of compliance. OR circumstances change and they hire new staff. “hum seems you didn’t register for the past 9 months”.
I could tell by the article that it was more of an “oh my Gawd, they’re letting THESE people run around” and less of a “see what these officers should’ve been doing all along instead of wasting resources on monitoring” piece.
I’m not in favor of more crime…but if cutting funding is the only way to stop these public doxing registries, then so be it. While there, SMART can focus on a more realistic goal, like whether fairy dust and unicorn farts are a viable source of energy instead of the nonsense they “study” now.
Anyone notice that reported sex crimes DID NOT increase during this period?
We know this because, had it been otherwise, Fox and it’s law-enforcement sources would have made sure you knew.
NOT removed from supervision. Removed from POLICE supervision. This is a civil regulatory scheme.