2 - The Daily Iowan - Iowa City, Iowa - Tuesday, October 16, 2012
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Authorities escort arrested Hawkeye fans out of the Kinnick Stadium holding cell to a van that will haul them to the Johnson County Jail on Oct. 31, 2009. (The Daily Iowan/File Photo)
Policy eases jail crowding Cite and release policy helps jail overcrowding on home football game days and reduces transportation costs. By Matt Starns matthew-starns@uiowa.edu
A policy established in 2010 by University of Iowa police has helped reduce the number of individuals transported from the holding cell at Kinnick Stadium to the Johnson County Jail, and it is helping to reduce the cost of housing inmates in other jails. The cite and release initiative — enacted in 2010 — was the product of a UI committee formed in conjunction with the Think Before You Drink campaign, and it took effect about the same time as Iowa City’s efforts to address liquor-related issues downtown, said Charles Green, the assistant vice president for the UI police. The policy, which allows individuals who are solely
charged with public intoxication to be issued a written citation and released into the care of a sober friend or family member — assuming there are “no other issues,” Green said — has been a help to the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office. “This has worked out quite well and has helped to keep the jail population down on game day,” Green wrote in an email Monday. Green said the initiative was put into place after UI police spoke with the County Attorney’s Office and other local law-enforcement organizations. He said the policy was established to avoid a significant increase in the number of individuals being sent to the Johnson County Jail for public intoxication on home-game days. Johnson County Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek said the initiative has had a significant effect on jail overcrowding for game day weekends. “It cut into the numbers deeply on how many game-day arrests they were bringing to the jail, which made it better for us,” Pulkrabek said. “Where it helps is the fact that prior to the change, anyone who got arrest-
ed at the game went to the detention facility and eventually ended up at the Sheriff’s Office.” Pulkrabek said the decrease in game-day traffic at the jail has helped to reduce previous costs related to the housing of inmates outside of the county, a practice he said costs his department more than $1 million each year. Records made available on the Sheriff’s Office website show the cost to house inmates outside the Johnson County Jail for fiscal 2012 was $1,116,511. Pulkrabek said his office houses inmates out of the county to combat overcrowding in the jail, something that can be exacerbated on home-game days. Pulkrabek said, however, that last year’s remodeling of the lower level of the jail — which added an additional booking area and several holding cells — and the cite and release initiative have helped his office to lower the numbers of inmates they are moving out of the jail on game day weekends, subsequently reducing costs, though he wasn’t able to say exactly by how much. “It has a big impact on how busy the jail is,” he
said. “That, along with the fact that we remodeled, allows our numbers inhouse to swell a little bit more than it could before.” Kelly Bender, the UI campus-community-harm-reduction coordinator, said the initiative is a good move by police. “I think it’s smart policy to find some jail alternatives whenever it’s possible — when someone is intoxicated and professionals can determine it would be safe for them to go with someone else,” she said. Bender emphasized, however, that students cited for public intoxication could face additional consequences through the university, regardless of a possible avoidance of jail time. “As far as students go, they would [still] have Code of Conduct issues to deal with at the university,” Bender said. Students might be required to speak with a Health Iowa official to evaluate the risks of their alcohol abuse, she said. “The conversation can be helpful in thinking about changes they might be ready to make,” she said. “It’s really sort of assessing a student’s readiness for change.”
Obama embraces economic record
By JULIE PACE and NEDRA PICKLER Associated Press
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. — With the economy showing some signs of improvement three weeks before Election Day, President Obama on Monday laid down a full embrace of the economic record many Republicans say is his biggest weakness. The president’s first act in this critical campaign week was to announce a new battleground state advertisement featuring voters discussing the ways their economic conditions have improved during his term. The ad was hitting the airwaves as Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney huddled in intense preparation for their second debate as polls show a closely fought campaign. “This race is tied,” Obama said in an appeal to supporters asking them to donate at least $5 to his re-election effort. He promised to be “fighting”
for the election on the debate stage tonight — something many of his supporters thought he did too little of in his first face-off with Romney. Early voting is under way in dozens of states, giving the candidates little chance to recover from any slip-ups that come in these final days. Even as polls show the race tightening nationally and in battleground states, Obama’s campaign aides say they are encouraged by public and private surveys showing voters growing more confident about the direction of the economy. Those trends are behind the new 30-second spot the campaign is running in Colorado, Iowa, Nevada, and Virginia. “Stick with this guy,” a gravelly voiced man says at the end of the commercial in a point Obama hopes wavering voters will embrace. A second ad targeted at Ohio voters features former astronaut and Sen. John Glenn tout-
ing Obama’s character and economic record. Aides argue that some voters got a psychological boost when the unemployment rate fell below 8 percent last month for the first time since Obama’s inauguration. But the campaign says it puts more stock in economic indicators showing an increase in consumer confidence and retail spending, which indicate shifts in voter behavior. Retail sales rose 1.1 percent last month, the Commerce Department said Monday. That followed a 1.2 percent increase in August, which was revised slightly higher. Both were the largest gains since October 2010. Still, with millions of Americans still out of work, the campaign is trying to walk a fine line between touting economic gains and acknowledging that many voters are still struggling. GOP vice-presidential nominee Paul Ryan
lambasted Obama’s handling of the deficit during an appearance Monday in Ryan’s home state of Wisconsin. He pointed to a digital scoreboard his campaign set up at the far end of Carroll University’s field house that tracked the growth of the nation’s deficit in real time. “Look at how fast those numbers are running,” Ryan said. “We know without a shred of doubt that we have consigned the next generation to this path of debt.” He acknowledged that Obama inherited “a tough situation” when he took office but argued the president has only made things worse. He touted Romney’s plan to cut taxes by 20 percent across the board as the path back to economic growth. Obama campaign spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki said the president would seek to run on his economic record, not away from it, during today’s debate.
Rees Hummels, 18, N271 Hillcrest, was charged Oct. 15 with possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. Quentrel Johnson, 18, 401A Mayflower, was charged Oct. 12 with possession of a controlled substance. Tomas Kavanagh, 19, 219 Church St., was charged Oct. 15 with public intoxication. Donte Kent, 24, 2742 Tri-
ple Crown Lane Apt. 8, was charged Sunday with driving with a suspended or canceled license. Jacob Martin, 23, Cedar Rapids, was charged Oct. 12 with OWI. Trashon Montgomery, 21, 301 Hawk Ridge Drive Apt. 306, was charged Oct. 12 with possession of a controlled substance. Steven Nash, 18, 1143 Rienow, was charged Oct. 13 with posses-
sion of drug paraphernalia. Benjamin Phelan, 20, 219 Church St. Apt. 8, was charged Oct. 15 with public intoxication. Lucas Rebik, 20, 822 Newton Road, was charged Oct. 13 with presence in a bar after hours. Theodore Stafford, 49, 425 Highway 1 W. Apt. 9, was charged Oct. 12 with public intoxication. Stephania Tsevas, 1029 St. Clements Alley, was charged Oct. 13 with obstructing an officer.
BLOTTER Collin Fitzpatrick, 19, N202 Hillcrest, was charged Sundaywith public intoxication. Nathaniel Gartin, 19, 202A Mayflower, was charged Oct. 13 with possession of a controlled substance. Michael Gasper, 50, 1725 Muscatine Ave., was charged Oct. 11 with OWI. Michael Harris, 20, 822 Newton Road, was charged Oct. 13 with presence in a bar after hours.
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Top Stories Most read stories on dailyiowan.com from Monday.
1. Iowa’s D-line stops Michigan State running back from running over the Hawkeyes 2. Commentary: Can’t Hyde the truth, Micah can play 3. UI officials ‘excited’ about IMU reconstruction, regent ‘disappointed’ with delays 4. Not which candidate spends the money but what the money is for 5. Local veterans differ on priority of election issues
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