[bouldercouncilhotline] Hotline: Camping ticket diversion program

[cmosupport at bouldercolorado.gov]

Sender: Weaver, Sam

Fellow Council members and HOTLINE followers,

I have been asked to describe a program that a few of us have been discussing prior to tomorrow night's Council meeting.  At tomorrow's meeting Municipal Judge Linda Cooke will present some facts and figures regarding enforcement of Boulder's camping ban that her office has graciously and quickly assembled in response to requests from Council at our annual retreat.  Those figures showed several trends that are interesting and which we will certainly discuss tomorrow evening.

One trend shown in the statistics as well as the processes and procedures used by our police and courts, is that the main way for a camping ban ticket to turn into jail time is for the violator to fail to appear (FTA) for their court appearance, generating a bench warrant for their arrest.  These bench warrant often result in arrest of the violator as well as a stay of 1-2 days in jail.  Violators who appear in court may receive one of several sentences, but never jail time.  Jail time is a self-evidently poor approach to solving the challenges of homelessness, and several Council members, including myself, have a goal of reducing the amount of jail time given for violations of the camping ban.

One idea to achieve this goal was initially suggested by Judge Cooke, and subsequently explored by myself, Council Member Andrew Shoemaker, and several others in feasibility discussions.  While no final determination of feasibility or effectiveness have been made, I will be prepared to discuss the idea tomorrow night as a potential for staff to further flesh out if Council concurs.  The idea is this: when a camping ban citation is issued, the recipient can show up for their court date as is routine to deal with the violation.  As an alternative for those for whom showing up in court is frightening, conflicts with work responsibility, or is difficult to track the schedule of due to a variety of personal challenges, community service would be made available as a way to work off the social responsibility incurred by the violation prior to the issued court date.  This community service process would also include contact with service providers in an attempt to begin the process of improving the living situation of the camping ban violator.  Successful completion of community service and service provider contact would be communicated to the municipal court, and the ticket would be voided, relieving the violator of the responsibility of appearing in court, and avoiding the possibility of jail time.

It is clear that a process as described above will not solve every camping ban situation, but it will at a minimum offer a likely reduction in the number of camping ban violators who end up with jail time.

I am certain there are many other great ideas we will hear tomorrow night on this subject, I just wanted to get this approach described before tomorrow, as was requested.

All the best,

Sam Weaver
Member of Boulder City Council
weavers at bouldercolorado.gov<mailto:weavers at bouldercolorado.gov>
Phone: 303-416-6130