SAN MARCOS — After concerning statistics were released recently regarding San Marcos police officers’ low use of cite-and-release, the department is looking at how to boost that number.
- Officers currently able to divert marijuana possession charges
- SMPD hopes to formalize diversion program
- Goal is to keep more people out of jail
At Thursday night's San Marcos Criminal Justice Reform Committee meeting, law enforcement committee members gave updates on how they're working toward keeping more people out of jail.
READ MORE | Report: San Marcos Police Released Only 6% of Eligible Cite-and-Release Cases
San Marcos Interim Police Chief Bob Klett and Assistant Police Chief Brandon Winkenwerder spoke on the city's use of street diversion that's not being formally tracked.
Winkenwerder said oftentimes, an officer will “street-levelly” divert a marijuana possession charge to the lower offense drug paraphernalia charge, by having the weed destroyed on-site if no other harder drugs are found. This street diversion is something he believes needs to be formalized in the future.
On the cite-and-release side, public safety director and former Police Chief Chase Stapp said the program they're currently using now does result in a charge on your criminal record, and could result in a warrant if someone fails to appear in court.
Stapp said offenders go through the county intake process from that charge and it's fairly similar to if you were arrested in terms of how it progresses.
SMPD is interested in a cite-and-release diversion (CRD) program--a revamp of what it is currently in use.
"With this [cite-and-diversion] program, the key difference is you may get to that initial appearance with the prosecutor, and they believe you're eligible for a diversion, you successfully complete that diversion and nothing ever goes on your record," Stapp said.
"What happens to that citation then, it just goes away?" asked Councilmember Lisa Prewitt.
"They could frame it or it goes in the trash," Stapp said.
With a cite-and-divert policy, a citation would be issued in the field by an officer. It would then go to the district attorney's office and be looked at by a prosecutor. That prosecutor would be able to determine if the offender is eligible to go through a diversion program.
"That would just kind of change from a cite-and-release program to a cite-and-divert once the DA's office has this in process. We would still do our thing on the street and give them a citation and they would be released on that point," Klett said. "It's more on the back end is where this program's looking at and it's seeking to divert some of the people from the criminal justice program altogether if they're capable and if they agree to it. They wouldn't go to jail that night with that citation."
Winkenwerder said where they see a lot of issues with the current cite-and-release program is when people fail to appear in court.
"Cite-and-release doesn't change how that [possession of marijuana charge] shows up on your record and now you'll have a warrant to failure to appear. So you're heading down a road of bigger problems," Winkenwerder said.
Adopting the cite-and-divert policy, Winkenwerder told the committee, could be the better option.
"The cite-and-diversion sounds really good because it sounds like you could miss that whole thing ever showing up on your record. If it's your first time and you have a mistake and you want to do better. I really like that one because this current cite-and-release still pushes them into the former criminal justice system where they're going to have to go to court, they're going to have to go to probation," Winkenwerder said. "This thing actually sounds like it's going to do some good for people who want to do better in their lives."
Along with the cite-and-divert policies, SMPD is also looking to possibly purchase a new cloud-based citation vendor that could be used with any Android or Apple device.
"Complete with reminders of court dates and electronic copies of that citation," Stapp said.