Austin police to begin citing, not arresting, some offenders

Plan to be finalized by year's end, chief says.


By Tony Plohetski
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Sunday, October 19, 2008



Marijuana smokers with small amounts of the drug or people driving while their licenses are suspended could soon be spared a trip in the back of a jail-bound Austin police car.

By year's end, Police Chief Art Acevedo hopes to put in place a policy that would allow officers to ticket some offenders instead of taking them to the Travis County Jail. The move comes more than a year after state legislators passed a so-called "cite and release" law. The policy would apply only to certain Class A and Class B misdemeanor arrests.

"We are committed to it," Acevedo said last week. "We just have to work through the actual process."

Since the legislation became law in September 2007, civil libertarians, including representatives from the American Civil Liberties Union, have urged Acevedo to put a program in place. Other Texas cities, including Dallas, have altered policies in the past year to give officers more flexibility in deciding which suspects get tickets and which go to jail.

The penalties for the offenses would not change. People who received citations would be given a court date, and there would be no change in how their cases would move through the court system.

In addition to the marijuana and driver's license charges, offenses that would fall under the law are criminal mischief, graffiti and theft when the damage is less than $500.

Proponents of the measure say a cite and release policy eases the strain on jails, saves relatively minor offenders from spending hours behind bars and frees officers to stay on the street and pursue more serious criminals. A recent study estimated that if the policy had been in place last year, about 15,000 Austin suspects could have been cited instead of taken to jail, a process that can take officers as many as three hours.

State Rep. Jerry Madden, R-Richardson, said he proposed the law after consulting with law enforcement officials from across the state because he supports keeping more officers on the street. Travis County Sheriff Greg Hamilton was among those who supported the legislation.

"I thought it made sense, that it is a smart-on-crime type bill," Madden said.

However, critics, including Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley, said the law "sends the exact opposite signal" law enforcement officials should want to give offenders. "My thoughts are that the entire process is a very creative way to decriminalize how we prosecute drug cases in Texas," Bradley said.

Among Texas law enforcement agencies, the Travis County sheriff's department quickly put a cite and release program in place after the law took effect. Officials said that in the past year, deputies have cited about 140 people instead of arresting them.

Hays County officials are studying the issue.

Although the prosecution of misdemeanor crimes is the work of county attorney offices, Bradley said he has met with Williamson County officials to discuss the matter. He said law enforcement agencies in that county, which include the Round Rock and Cedar Park police departments, have no plans to begin citing and releasing offenders.

Houston police officials also said they do not plan to stop arresting certain Class A and Class B misdemeanor suspects. Dallas police leaders have begun allowing officers to cite, and not arrest, Class B offenders in some instances.

Roy Pinkston, treasurer for the Dallas Police Association, said that initially, officers were worried about the public's reaction to such a decision. Pinkston said he has not heard recent complaints.

"We had concerns about the public's perception, from the police association's view, that they felt we were going to be releasing criminals," he said.

Acevedo said that he has been working for months to put a cite and release program in place but that he has needed to discuss the issue with officials in Hays and Williamson counties, parts of which are in Austin officers' patrol areas.

"We just have to work through the actual processes in three different counties," he said.

Acevedo said he is aware that opinions of the policy differ.

"Some people think if you site and release them, you are being easier on them," he said. "Folks forget that on the back end of the process, the accountability and the penalties and consequences don't change."

Members of the group Keep Austin Safe, which includes ACLU representatives, presented Acevedo with a study in July to encourage him to embrace the program.

According to the report, Austin police arrested 5,910 people last year on Class A and Class B misdemeanor charges who, under the policy, could have been cited instead. An additional 9,902 people were arrested on Class C misdemeanor charges. Officers, who arrested a total of about 45,000 people last year, already have the discretion to ticket or arrest people suspected of committing Class C offenses.

The study also said those lower-level arrests make officers unavailable to respond to more violent crimes and erode trust between the community and police.

Wuthipong Tantaksinanukij, vice president of the Austin Police Association, said he thinks the change for Austin officers represents a new opportunity. "It's about being efficient," he said.

tplohetski@statesman.com; 445-3605


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