DPS is Run by Idiots, Part 1

Yes, I know...this is really installment 2 of this story, but it happened first, so it is part 1.

We bought a house in August. August 24th, 2007, was the day we signed the paperwork, to be exact. Clint did a Google search of our new address one day after the signing and discovered that it was the former residence of a registered sex offender (RSO). He immediately contacted the Austin Police Department to inform them that this was no longer the case, and filed a bunch of paperwork to prove it. Problem solved...

Yeah. Not quite. About a month later, 2 weeks before we were supposed to move in, we-and all of our neighbors-got a notice that a registered sex offender had moved into our address. Excuse me? Not just a registered sex offender, but one charged with indecency with a child. Niiice. Now all our new neighbors think my husband is a child molester. And they throw rocks at our glass storm door (there is still glass on my front porch and in my front slower bed that I can't get up).

Of course, we called APD, again, who told us that their information was correct and directed us to DPS, who is in charge of maintaining the RSO database and issuing the notices. Clint called DPS who quite clearly and not at all helpfully informed him "we don't print retractions." Which, of course was the wrong answer. DPS, in the future, when you screw up ROYALLY (and especially if my husband is involved), the Correct Answer is: Yes, we made a terrible mistake and I am sorry; how can we fix this problem?

So, Clint and I were in the process of trying to determine 'what now?' when my mother happens to mention to my aunt (who happens to be a lawyer) what has occurred. My aunt, like everyone else who has heard this story, was outraged on our behalf and offered to contact DPS, as our lawyer. That got us...one step further up the food chain and several days of unreturned phone calls. DPS PR Lesson #2: You always return a lawyer's phone calls. My aunt, fed up, contacted a handful of local news stations and within, oh say, 45 minutes I had 4 voicemails and 6 emails.

It took exactly ONE reporter to contact DPS and they decided-hey, maybe we DO print retractions! It also took one reporter about half a day, tops, to determine that the sex offender who had previously owned our property had, in fact, moved out of the property back in MARCH when he got arrested. He was still in jail. See? And she wasn't even responsible for knowing where he was...