On paper, it seems like a great idea.
A new collaboration between the City of Tucson and Pima County would work with frequent fliers in the justice system and help them break a cycle of repeatedly committing misdemeanor offenses.
The six-month pilot program would offer a carrot rather than wield a stick, connecting people with a wide range of government services while reducing the strain — at least a little — on the Tucson Police Department.
But, as always, the devil is in the details.
City officials are about to learn more about the other side of the justice system and why some of these frequent fliers simply don’t fit into neat little boxes where treatment is always possible or the threat of incarceration serves as a deterrent.
Mayor Regina Romero watches as Tucson Police officers talk with unhoused people during a ride-along back in February.
To be clear, the city is looking at what largely amounts to people (often unhoused people) committing misdemeanors on a regular basis and routinely tying up police and court resources.
Someone, for example, who is frequently charged with trespassing could cost the city countless hours a year in terms of responding to calls, subsequent arrests and time in court or diversion programs.
We are not talking about serial axe murderers today. In fact, the city has a precise list of repeat offenses that would get someone into its six-month pilot program.
They include:
Trespassing
Disorderly conduct
Shoplifting
Solicitation
Loitering
Drug paraphernalia violations (including public drug use)
Public urination
Criminal/public nuisance violations
Median violations
During this Tuesday’s study session, both staff and council members emphasized that arrests and putting people in jail are not the goals — they want to address the underlying issues.
Both the city and the county have put serious resources into the Pima One / Safe City Initiative, committing more money to temporary housing for the homeless and lowering barriers for those seeking to get into rehab. All of which are worthy aims.
A new group of Tucson Police officers are sworn in.
The Tucson Police Department also launched its community service officer program a few years ago. The program, in part, is designed to de-escalate public contact with law enforcement.
Tucson Police Chief Monica Prieto said the new program is born out of the realization that some community members are stuck in a cycle of low-level criminal activity.
“Rather than repeatedly handing each incident in isolation, TPD will play a more active role in helping people break free from the cycle of crime,” Prieto told the council.
Those who want the help will get it, but those who refuse services will not be arrested, Prieto said.
The conversation on Tuesday and the pilot program were born out of a request by Tucson City Council member Nikki Lee last year to consider allowing the city attorney to charge individuals for lower-level drug offenses, an indirect criticism that the Pima County Attorney’s Office at the time was not aggressive in pursuing charges.
Prieto hinted that might change, telling the council that her office will lobby for stronger criminal charges for individuals who repeatedly refuse treatment when arrested for drug use.
“If they refuse services and they continue to reoffend, we'll work with the County Attorney's Office to hold them accountable for their actions. And this would include us requesting no plea deals and no diversion,” Prieto said.
Kate Vesely, director of Pima County Justice Services, is partnering with the city on the program.
Her department has long worked with people leaving the jail, making sure they have the resources in place to attend court-ordered treatment as well as the tools to keep from reoffending.
She said a cookie-cutter approach to chronic drug use and other repeated criminal behaviors doesn’t work, and solutions need to suit the individual.
“Yes, we are more than aware of the impacts of behavioral health and substance use, but there are a lot of complexities and there is no one token person who has repeat justice system involvement,” Vesely said.
A study of cases flagged by the Tucson Police Department and Pima County Justice Services found a common thread among the frequent fliers.
“When we look closely at the top 5%, we found that more than half had serious behavioral health issues, substance use disorders, were experiencing homelessness, or some combination of the three,” Vesely said.
While Mayor Regina Romero and the council members explored the issue for over an hour on Tuesday, there are still some unanswered questions — primarily tied to the courts.
City staff said they believe the program — which has a goal of getting a minimum of 10% of the targeted group into treatment — will reduce the overall strain on the courts and jails.
It’s a worthy goal that could help people trying to break out of brutal cycles avoid jail time.
But it is messy.
We know1 that the solution to the problem is more complicated than simply putting someone in treatment or jail, and we’re not even gonna get into prosecutorial discretion or the lag between initial appearances and being arraigned.
Our concern is the people with serious mental health issues. The line between voluntary treatment and forced incarceration can be a thin one.
The reality is that defendants are sometimes found (by a court-appointed psychiatrist) unable to stand trial.
If the case isn’t dismissed (prosecutorial discretion) they might end up in the county's Restoration to Competency (RTC) program, which holds and offers treatment to people who are unable to go before a judge due to serious mental health issues or diminished cognitive capacity.
If a person is unable to regain competency through the RTC hold, they can be referred to a separate process for a long-term, court-ordered hold at a mental health facility. But it’s an incredibly complex and lengthy civil process.
And locking a person up for treatment in lieu of prosecution is still locking someone up — potentially for a longer time than the crime itself calls for. Especially misdemeanors.
From a resources standpoint, it costs far more time and money to treat a person’s underlying problems than to prosecute them for crimes like public urination. Or to simply let them off the hook and choose not to prosecute.
So while the program may result in better, more compassionate outcomes for those who take advantage of it, we’re skeptical that it will achieve its other stated goal of reducing the strain on Pima County courts and jails.
It’s not my fault: FBI Director Kash Patel claims his agents could have recovered more video from Nancy Guthrie’s doorbell camera if the FBI had been allowed into the investigation earlier, per Fox News. Guthrie didn’t pay to store footage from the camera, so footage was automatically deleted periodically. The still image that was released to the public in early February came from a moment a masked man showed up at Guthrie’s house three weeks before the abduction. That footage was on the verge of being deleted. Patel’s comment was the latest in a long line of complaints he’s made about the Pima County Sheriff’s Department whenever he’s asked about the unsolved case.
It’s not my fault, either: As the pressure ratchets up on local prosecutors following the mass shooting in downtown Tucson on Sunday — including the fact that the alleged shooter got probation instead of jail time after a shooting two years ago — Pima County Attorney Laura Conover made the unusual move of releasing, on YouTube, an audio recording of her interview with an Arizona Daily Star reporter. A note on the video says “the reporter requested that his voice not be used in our posting.” (We can’t blame him for that. This behavior from a public official is rather Trumpian). Conover did something similar a few weeks ago, when she released a statement “in response to recent news coverage regarding a high-profile case” and included emails between her office and a KOLD reporter. In the video, Conover blames the media for the perception that Tucson is unsafe.
“The crime of the day sells in the media,” she said. “It is easy to make a post on social media about the crime of the day. And it sells. And it sells. And it sells. And it’s a profit to try to make you feel less safe when the data says that all of the markers of violent crime are way way down. Fear sells, which is why both of my campaigns were brutal and hard.”
Wrapping up the elections: A Turning Point-backed candidate came up short in Legislative District 19, Terri Jo Neff reports for the Herald/Review. Cheryl Caswell was trying to beat state Sen. David Gowan or Rep. Lupe Diaz in the GOP primary for a state House seat (Gowan is trying to cross over from the Senate to the House after hitting his term limits). Over in Green Valley, Justice of the Peace Ray Carroll (who used to be a Pima County supervisor) will keep his seat, per the Green Valley News.
Project moving forward: Marana voters won’t get a chance to block the Marana Downtown entertainment district after the Arizona Supreme Court agreed with town officials who said leasing 10 acres of town property to developers was an administrative act that couldn’t be referred to the ballot, the Star’s Cathalena Burch reports. The developers, who own several properties like The Hub and Corbett’s beer garden in Tucson, are trying to make a walkable downtown district in Marana.
Uncertain future: A Russian asylum seeker in Tucson who fled his native country after he protested the invasion of Ukraine left the U.S. this week, the Tucson Sentinel’s Mia Kortright and Paul Ingram report. ICE arrested 23-year-old Vlad2 at an immigration appointment in Tucson last month, which drew some local media attention. Under pressure from ICE, Vlad decided to fly back to Russia. Now, his lawyer is worried he’ll end up being sent to the front lines in Ukraine.
The shooting at Empire Pizza in downtown Tucson last weekend was a tragedy and there’s nothing funny about it.
Except maybe the pizza joint’s unhinged entry into local politics.
If you haven’t been checking their Instagram lately, you’re missing quite a diatribe against the City of Tucson and the state of local journalism (which, fair enough — there are more pizza joints than reporters in this town).
And if you’re gonna go down that rabbit hole, you might as well check out the savage Reddit discourse about the posts.
But for those of you looking for the TLDR version, this about sums it up.
1 Joe spent about two and a half years working for the Green Valley Justice Court.
2 Vlad’s lawyer asked the Sentinel to not use his last name, fearing retribution from ICE. What a world.