\u00a0KVUE Defenders<\/a> found that the number of so-called \u201ccompliance checks\u201d dropped dramatically last year and is far lower than other Texas cities.\u00a0<\/p>\nOn a recent afternoon, a group of officers were trying to change that.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be a two-day operation where we are going out and doing compliance checks,\u201d said Sgt. Meson Woo, as he and fellow officers stood in a parking lot about to embark on a series of compliance checks. \u201cWe\u2019ll go out and knock on the doors of the sex offenders.\u201d<\/p>\n
The two-day mission was designed to complete a round of verifications to make sure the city\u2019s 2,200 registered sex offenders are, in fact, living where they say.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Under Texas law, sex offenders must register with their local law enforcement agency annually, every 90 days, or every 30 days, depending on the severity of their crimes and risk level. Based on the seriousness of their original crime, failure to register or update a registration is up to a second-degree felony, punishable by 20 years in prison.<\/p>\n
But the law does not specifically require that agencies go out into the community to randomly check that registrants are living where they say.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is just something, best practices, around the state \u2013 it is just something we want to make sure we keep accountability for those who are registered,\u201d Woo said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For years, the Austin Police Department\u2019s Sex Offender and Registration Unit operated a robust compliance check program.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But in 2022, the department moved three officers from the unit, and according to Woo, made less overtime available for compliance checks as APD had fewer officers for patrol shifts.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is something that is felt by law enforcement all around \u2013 decrease in staffing, decrease in funding,\u201d Woo said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The numbers have reflected that shift. In 2023, Austin police conducted 800 checks; they conducted 1,100 the next year. But in 2025, that number dipped to 369 \u2013 a three-year average of 756.<\/p>\n
Other departments say they prioritize such efforts. Fort Worth, which has about 1,000 more registered sex offenders, averaged 3,368 \u2013 four times more than Austin in the same period.<\/p>\n
The KVUE Defenders found San Antonio police averaged about 3,000 checks in the past three years. That city has about 1,500 more sex offenders than Austin.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Austin police officials say that during the past year \u2013 as they were conducting less compliance checks \u2013 their main focus remained on making sure people required to register actually did.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They say they closely monitor such lapses and immediately issue warrants for those registrants. In the past three years, they averaged about 170 arrest warrants for that crime.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Advocates for survivors of sexual violence \u2013 such as Lavinia Masters, who serves on the state\u2019s Sexual Assault Survivors\u2019 Task Force \u2013 say law enforcement must do more.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe already live in a life of fear of these individuals that commit these types of crimes, and it is absolutely necessary that our system understand that survivors need this reassurance,\u201d Masters said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Austin police are now trying to do better.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe recognize that we have an obligation to do the best we can for our community members and victims of crime, so it pushes us to be more creative about how we complete best practices and protect the citizens of Austin,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In mid-February, APD conducted a two-day operation and did random spot checks in various zip codes working with other agencies.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Woo said they conducted dozens of compliance checks and hope to do more of these types of operations throughout the year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is part of being a law enforcement officer, is that you are always wanting to do better because your commitment is to the community members,\u201d Woo said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The KVUE Defenders found that the number of so-called \u201ccompliance checks\u201d dropped dramatically last year and is far…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":66331,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":{"0":"post-211792","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-austin","8":"tag-austin","9":"tag-austin-headlines","10":"tag-austin-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211792"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211792\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}