In the News

DUI could steer offenders to treatment By Mike Hall
THE TOPEKA CAPITAL-JOURNAL
Sunday, November 02, 2008

A program of treatment and education for those arrested for driving under the influence is still being considered by Shawnee County officials.

However, county counselor Rich Eckert said no contract will be put on a county commission agenda until at least January.

Eckert said county officials met with representatives of Vanguard Offender Management Inc. and Sims-Kemper Clinical Counseling and Recovery Outpatient Services recently to discuss the terms of a contract.

He said the county asked them to provide more information.

The proposal was put to the county commission Sept. 11 by Chris Joseph, a Topeka attorney representing Vanguard and Sims-Kemper.

State law requires 48 hours of "imprisonment" for anyone convicted of their first or second DUI offense. Joseph's clients propose instead an intense two-day program of education, counseling and treatment.

Ideally, the program would be conducted in the county's new work-release center, Joseph said. That facility is under construction and expected to be completed in January across from the Shawnee County Jail on S.E. Adams.

Until then, Joseph's clients proposed to use a block of rooms at the Ramada Hotel and Convention Center. Participants wouldn't be allowed to leave during the two-day session, and off-duty law enforcement officers would be present to enforce those rules.

Commissioners took no action on the matter that day, for several reasons. One was concern that some members of the public would see the program as coddling criminals by giving them a free weekend at the Ramada.

Eckert said county officials have made it clear to the groups proposing the contract that they want to wait until the work-release center is available before initiating the program. He also said the county is looking into an appropriate fee for use of the work-release center for the program.

"It's not a done deal," Eckert said.

County corrections director Dick Kline said legal and practical questions need to be addressed. For example, will the county's Department of Corrections be considered responsible for keeping the participants in custody? If a participant walks away, will it be considered an escape from custody?

For years, Dalyn Schmitt ran the Kansas City Weekend Intervention Program that provided a similar alternative to those arrested for DUI in Wyandotte, Leavenworth and Douglas counties.

She said she isn't aware of any hard figures on whether people going through such a program are less likely to repeat as DUI offenders than those simply stuck in a jail cell for 48 hours.

In Kansas, there is no uniform reporting system that could be used to compile statistics like that, she said.

But she said such programs have been offered in a few locations in Kansas dating back to the early 1990s.

And even though no statistics are available, she and others involved in such programs feel they do more good than simply locking people in jail for the weekend.

Further, she said, people should understand that: "This is incarceration. It's just not in jail."

Her program was operated in a specially blocked off group of hotel rooms with law enforcement officers present to make sure no one left.

Ted Griffith, an assistant city attorney in Wichita, oversees that city's DUI diversion program. The program description, posted on the city of Wichita's Web site, indicates it operates in a similar fashion to the one proposed for Shawnee County.

He said he didn't have statistics measuring whether people going through Wichita's program were more or less likely to be repeat DUI offenders. But he said the education and treatment provided in the program surely are doing more good than simply locking up offenders for a weekend with nothing to do.

Wichita's diversion program is offered only to those who haven't previously been convicted of DUI or participated in an alcohol diversion program.

The person taking the diversion costs must pay a total of $1,141, most of which may be paid over a four-month period. The total includes a $500 fine and the $250 cost of the diversion program.

Mike Hall can be reached at (785) 295-1209 or mike.hall@cjonline.com.