(Video) Jaycee Lee Dugard Press Conference

Police announced today that Jaycee Lee Dugard’s kidnapper, Philip Garrido, was a convicted sex offender. Apparently Garrido and his wife snatched Jaycee Lee Dugard at a Lake Tahoe bus stop years ago.

The case presents a fascinating PR problem for local authorities, and for the State of California, who are going to have to explain how the parole officer assigned to Philip Garrido failed to notice that he had children living in his home. Further investigation would have revealed that Jaycee Lee Dugard was not Philip Garrido’s biological child, which would clearly violate his parole.

Assume for a moment that Philip Garrido and his wife were really good at covering their tracks – sex offender registries are pretty popular these days, and one might think that neighbors couldn’t possibly have not known that these people suddenly acquired an extra child.

That said, the State is going to have to explain how Philip Garrido slipped through the crack. We’re kind of at a loss for a solution to this one, its awfully hard to spin, but here’s my best shot: The Governor or the Attorney General needs to initiate an investigation, not to assign blame, but rather to figure out what went wrong. The only way to get ahead of the curve here is to admit the mistake and try to show a willingness to take a look at the systemic failure that created the problem.

Jaycee Lee Dugard Press Conference video