Texas’s New Searchable Sex Offender Database
- cris magno
- Mar 10, 2020
- 2 min read
The Texas sex offender database has been made easier for the public to search for registered sex offenders The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) has doubled down on its commitment to protect children from sexual predators by creating a number of ways to search for sex offenders using the Texas Public Sex Offender Registry.
The new format offers options to search: by the registrant’s name; by address, zip code, county, or map; or by institute of higher education. When someone attempts to search the Texas sex offender database, they are supposed to read and agree to a Caveats statement. Here are a few of the caveats they are made aware of:
DPS cannot guarantee the records obtained through this site relate to the person about whom information is sought. Searches based on names, dates of birth, or other alphanumeric identifiers are not always accurate. The only way to positively link an individual to a specific sex offender record is though fingerprint verification. This implies that if someone is searching for a particular person, the results might not accurately reflect whether that person is a convicted sex offender.
It is your responsibility to make sure the records you access through this site pertain to the person about whom you are seeking information. Extreme care should be exercised in using any information obtained from this website.
Using the information from the sex offender database without verifying its accuracy can be extremely detrimental and harmful because the information could be wrong. Anyone who uses any information on this website to injure, harass, or for any other unlawful purpose may be subject to criminal prosecution or civil liability.
The Texas sex offender registry exists solely to inform citizens about whether a sex offender lives in their neighborhood. Individuals are not allowed to use this information unlawfully against the alleged sex offender. If this database is so important and necessary to protect the public from sex offenders, why then must there be explicit caveats stating that the database is not perfect? Perhaps because in creating it, we’ve failed to protect sex offenders from the public.
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