- Jay Aiyer has an idea - July 6, 2005
- Whitmire Leads Efforts on CJ/Prison Reform - April 27, 2005
Greg Wythe, pinch-hitting for Charles Kuffner, forwards city council candidate Jay Aiyer's suggestion on how to improve the training of HPD officers and save money at the same time:
Houston Community College currently provides continuing education training for Houston police, fire and emergency medical technician services. It provides a high quality service in its core business — education at a level the city could not achieve while saving the city money. The city could save more money if it used the proposed Public Safety Academy at HCC to provide all training and education requirements for police, fire and EMT. This would help the city save money by getting out of the academy business. It would also allow police officers and firefighters currently being utilized to provide basic training to be returned full time to fire stations and patrol cars.
It has prompted some interesting comments, so HouDem would like to keep the discussion going.
What do you think? Does this idea have merit?
What would be the pitfalls/shortfalls of having HCCS train HPD (they already do this for many other law-enforcement agencies in the area)?
Posted by Guest Blogger PDiddie at 10:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
The Austin American-Statesman reports that sweeping reforms in the Texas criminal justice and probation system will be unveiled this week. Houston's own Senate CJ Committee chief, Senator John Whitmire (SD15) and House Corrections Committee chair Jerry Madden have been able to craft a draft proposal after negotiations with DAs, judges and probation officials.
The main goal of this reform is to avoid building new prisons. Because of current criminal justice law, the prison population is growing at a rate that would require the state to build another six prisons in the next five years at a cost of almost $300 million. There are better options, especially options that will save the state money, while assuring, as Whitmire says, a plan that is "tough on crime" and "smart on crime."
The following are among the proposals in the draft:
*Limiting probation for felony crimes to five years, from a maximum 10 years currently, with an option for judges to extend that time. Probation for state jail felonies — generally nonviolent, lesser crimes — would be reduced from five years to three years.
•Giving judges more flexibility in imposing sentences aimed at changing offenders' lives, including setting conditions that must be complied with in a particular order, such as completion of drug treatment, followed by community service time, followed by other community-based self-help programs.
•Allowing judges to terminate probation early for offenders who change their ways.
•Encouraging the use of community-based corrections initiatives, such as short trips to jail and proven programs to get offenders to stop using drugs and drinking, as a way to change patterns of criminal behavior at the local level rather than in a state prison.
•Leaving intact laws on deferred adjudication. Senate leaders had discussed abolishing deferred adjudication, under which a criminal charge can be dismissed once a person completes probation, but Whitmire said that idea proved controversial and has been dropped.
Whitmire said the draft Senate plan would give local community justice councils more say in crafting local probation plans by limiting community service time to 40 hours annually to make it an attainable goal and would remove mandates on judges in how they sentence offenders to probation.
* In addition, the Senate draft would allow judges to release state jail felons early from incarceration for good behavior. Those sentences are for a flat two years now.
Senator Whitmire has proven himself an effective legislator during the 79th Session on this issue. Contact your state elected officials and ask them to support the initiatives that have been developed to reduce the prison population, reduce costs, and ultimately, reduce crime and recidivism, thus assuring the opportunity for ex-offenders to re-enter the "real world" and become good, productive tax-paying citizens.
Posted by Stace Medellin at 06:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack