At the Austin Statesman, Eric Dexheimer and Tony Plohetski report on a plan to reduce arrests for public intoxication by creating place downtown for folks to sober up without taking them to jail ("
Austin officials move to decriminalize public drunkenness," March 9). The story opens:
Getting arrested and criminally charged with public intoxication in
Travis County — a common sight on Sixth Street as bars close for the
night and the foundation for an entire subspecialty of legal
representation — might soon be a thing of the past.
An effort by
an array of criminal justice, law enforcement and medical officials is
underway to open a sobriety center — “drunk tank” to many — that would
effectively decriminalize public intoxication, which over the past five
years has resulted in about 27,000 arrests in Austin, or about 10
percent of all arrests. As in other criminal cases, those charged with
public intoxication are currently taken to jail, fingerprinted, have
their mug shots taken and face future court hearings and costs.
Under
a new plan, however, police would only detain intoxicated suspects and
take them to the center. Offenders would face no criminal charges and
would be free to leave the facility with no additional consequences
after becoming sober.
Supporters have advocated for a noncriminal
approach to public drunkenness in Austin for more than a decade, noting
that criminally prosecuting such cases is expensive and does little
long-term good.
“I think many people recognize that substance use
is a problem in our community, but jail doesn’t solve that problem
specifically,” said Travis County Court-at-Law Judge Nancy Hohengarten,
who is helping lead the effort. “I do not see where incarcerating them
has led them to quit abusing alcohol.”
She noted that such
centers in other cities serve as a first stop for substance abuse
counseling, encouraging some repeat offenders to enter into long-term
sobriety programs.
Grits likes the idea: Cheaper than jail and prosecution, lets police officers get back to their duties more rapidly, and reserves incarceration for more serious offenses. Houston opened a
similar sobriety center
last April and San Antonio has operated one since 2008, reported the
Statesman, so their experience can inform the design and processes for
this project. It's likely to face a NIMBY reaction when they identify a site, but the drunks are already downtown, anyway. Personally, I don't see a downside. Kudos to Judge Hohengarten for spearheading the plan.
I'd bet a million dollars that Austin won't see anywhere near 27,000 citizens placed in the new drunk tank during the next five years.
ReplyDeleteOnce you remove the possibility for arrests most police officers quickly lose interest in your activities. Raises and promotions, after all, are based on arrests, not friendly rides to Sobering Centers...
Never underestimate the power of the police to screw this up in some way. That said..it SOUNDS like a better idea than what they do now.
ReplyDeletelaw enforcement continues to piss away taxpayer money. great way for street cops to show their bosses that they are busy, and for their bosses to show the taxpayers that they are "tough on crime. cut their budgets and stop wasting taxpayer money on police, jails, courts, etc... time to get new people in charge of policing/jailing/courts. time to get new people in charge of taxpayer stewardship. it wouldn't be a surprise that austin texas alone (county city state federal) spends in excess of one billion dollar annually on the big pot of gold called "public safety". puke.
ReplyDeleteAs a former law enforcement officer, I hated dealing with public intoxication. A center like this is a great ideal. Most law enforcement don't want to deal with drunks, but are liable if one of these drunks kills or hurts someone.
ReplyDelete^exactly, but there will still be plenty of disorders to handle and possible lie about to keep the revenue coming. All cops should wear a collar camera while on duty.
ReplyDeleteNow this may be another solution
ReplyDeletehttps://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=681926875162940&set=a.520272604661702.118891.479202222102074&type=1
I understand that numerous judges own this program and are making an outrageous amount of $ for each inmate in this program. A good friend of my recently. They have snitches so that the inmate in this program will have to stay longer and they are given more money for those who have to stay longer. Do your research and look whose making the $.
ReplyDelete