To save money, the city of Lynnwood will cut the amount of time some criminals spend in jail by half.
The move is part of an effort to plug an $8.75 million budget shortfall in the 2009-2010 budget.
“Is there a danger to the public? I’m confident there is not,” Police Chief Steve Jensen said. “Does five days (in jail) have less of a deterrent than 10 days?”
Lynnwood’s Municipal Court handles misdemeanor crimes, which include such offenses as non-felony drunken driving, shoplifting, petty theft and driving with a suspended license. More serious offenses go to Snohomish County District or Superior Court.
Those convicted of misdemeanor crimes are either sentenced to jail directly or placed on probation, a method of monitoring criminals out of jail.
The police department is looking for more than $1.1 million in cuts from its $32 million share of the city’s budget. Cutting jail time would save more than $1 million, Jensen said, quickly covering 92 percent of the total cuts sought.
The police department spends about $1.4 million a year to provide jail services but costs have escalated rapidly over the years. Jensen told the City Council July 6 that jail costs “will eat the police department.”
Nearly 5,900 people were sentenced to the Lynnwood Detention Facility in 2007 and stayed there an average of seven days. The city also pays other cities to house some of its criminals and, in turn, houses other cities’ inmates in its jail for a fee.
Jensen said three causes drive up jail costs:
Ÿ An increase in arrest rates;
Ÿ The length of the sentence the judge orders;
ŸPeople who violate the terms of their probation.
Costs have been rising at a rate of 20 percent a year, he said. Jensen said it makes sense to cut the length of jail sentences that drain city coffers.
The city also will begin to make greater use of electronic home detention, in which convicts are fitted with an electronic bracelet and closely monitored away from jail. The city saved $492,660 in jail costs last year with electronic home detention, Jensen said.
In addition, the five-year probation terms will be reduced to three years, and two-year terms to one year.
Court officials are asking the city’s prosecutor to “re-evaluate their sentencing requests,” Jensen said.
Jill O’Cain, court administrator, said perhaps the biggest contributor to jail crowding has been the many people arrested for driving with a suspended license.
A person can get their license suspended a number of ways, O’Cain said. Once that happens, the offender owes the court money. Such fees can add up and the serious offenders end up in jail, their licenses revoked. Often, cities don’t recoup the money owed to them. Mostly, O’Cain said, people with suspended driver’s licenses just clog up the court system.
“It’s been a problem for as long as I’ve been in the court business,” she said.
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