Mayor Blake Caravati, in an interview in today’s Progress, said that he favors bringing drunks to the Mohr Center (the detox house on East Market) instead of arresting them. Said Caravati, “[P]utting them in jail when they’re dead drunk doesn?t do any good.” Sounds like a good policy to me.
News and meta-news about Charlottesville, VA, since 2001.
Sideblog
Police announced this afternoon that their investigation into what was initially believed to be a fatal fire on Rugby Avenue is now a homicide investigation. #
The Virginia Supreme Court has denied George Huguely’s appeal. His second-degree murder conviction will stand, WRIC reports. #
In a carefully worded story, and not citing specific sources, WTVR reports that forensic evidence belonging to Jesse Matthew Jr., the main suspect in the disappearance of Hannah Graham, matches forensic evidence collected during the investigation of Morgan Harrington’s 2009 murder. #
In the wake of Hannah Graham’s disappearance, and the evidence that came from private security footage, city officials are revisiting the question of installing security cameras on the downtown mall. #
Both Charlottesville Registrar Sheri Iachetta and former Electoral Board member Stephanie Commander have turned themselves in to the police on
foursix and four felony counts of embezzlement, respectively. #Ten years ago, the National Institutes of Health budget doubled and schools like the University of Virginia built massive new research facilities. A decade later, those buildings remain largely underutilized. NPR visits UVA in this story on the effect of federal binge and spurge spending in the sciences. #
In 2012, Council approved a new student housing complex on West Main—now some council members are questioning whether what they were shown matches what was built. #
The Architectural Review Board has approved a bike-themed mural on West Market, below the McGuffey Art Center, although at least one member expressed concerns that it might look like the bicyclists were riding away from Charlottesville’s downtown. #
City Police Chief Tim Longo is meeting with city leaders to work on protocols regarding the use of military surplus police weapons in Charlottesville. #
A 100-year-old Colonnades resident received military honors for her service in the WWII Women’s Army Corps #
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How do other states handle this situation? In Massachusetts, public drunkeness isn’t a crime, as I recall.
When I was growing up there, I remember my mother explaining to me – while we were watching a scene in an old movie about a drunk person being hauled off to jail – that people weren’t treated that way any more.
She said that that was how drunk people were treated in the bad old days, before more enlightened, compassionate voices were heard. This conversation took place in the late 1950s.
It’s 2001, and in Virginia, those voices, perhaps led by the mayor of Charlottesville, are just now making themselves heard.
About bloody time, don’t you think?
Janis Jaquith
author of “Birdseed Cookies: A Fractured Memoir”
http://www.radioessays.com
This would be a smart move for a whole bunch of reasons.
Does anyone remember the guy (what was his name) a few years back who got hauled into the C-ville jailhouse for public drunkeness and died there? He had sustained a head injury shortly before being arrested. The cops had mistaken his symptoms of concussion and skull fracture for drunkeness.
That kind of thing can happen again and it’s a major lawsuit waiting to happen. By allowing medical professionals to deal with all the drunks, the city can avoid the situation of requiring police officers to make medical judgement calls that they just aren’t equipped to make.
Besides, creating an arrest record for someone over a victimless crime is only going to it more difficult for a recovering alcoholic to return to the world of the living. I see no public interest in permanantly branding those who are merely obnoxious for an evening.
~J