Civil citation program being revamped


  • October 28, 2015
  • /   Shannon Nickinson
  • /   community-dashboard

Civil citations are being used as a diversion effort to keep nonviolent youthful offenders out of the juvenile justice system. Photo credit: Shannon Nickinson

A diversion program for juvenile offenders is about to be revamped as local law enforcement officials look to comply with a new law regarding its use.

Civil citations have been used in Florida since 2011 as a way to divert first-time, nonviolent misdemeanor offenders out of the juvenile justice system.

{{business_name}}Civil citations are being used as a diversion effort to keep nonviolent youthful offenders out of the juvenile justice system. Photo credit: Shannon Nickinson

Civil citations are being used as a diversion effort to keep nonviolent youthful offenders out of the juvenile justice system. Photo credit: Shannon Nickinson

That is something that saves the state money — by some estimates as much as $139 million a year — and helps young people out of a system that hamper their chances at future academic and economic success.

Margie Anders, the juvenile division supervisor in the State Attorney’s Office, said local officials including her office, the Escambia Sheriff’s Office and the Pensacola Police Department, have been meeting to set guidelines for the program to improve usage of the program countywide.

“Civil citation is a good program,” Anders says. “I think ours is better than a lot of other jurisdictions because of the woman who runs it, Chiquita Fountain Williams. It’s not one size fits all, and I think that’s what makes it worthwhile.”

How it has worked so far

The local group is looking at using the citations for most misdemeanors, and while the state law would allow for one teen to get as many as three citations before they would log an arrest, Anders said the local group is leaning toward setting a cap at one.

The civil citation program was expanded to Escambia County in 2013.

The program gives young first-time offenders facing nonviolent misdemeanors the chance to enter a diversion program that includes counseling and community service. Those who successfully complete the program will have no arrest record.

A study released in July showed the program statewide reduced recidivism and save the state money over the cost of incarcerating juveniles. A 2011 report by the Florida TaxWatch Center for Smart Justice put taxpayer savings from the use of civil citations at $44 million to $139 million annually.

While most law enforcement officials agree the diversion program is a good tool, its use has varied across the First Judicial Circuit.

{{business_name}}Source: Florida Department of Juvenile Justice.

Source: Florida Department of Juvenile Justice.

Escambia Chief Deputy Eric Haines said that there are discrepancies between the way the Sheriff’s Office and the Pensacola Police Department have used civil citations.

Some of that, he says, was training and budgetary.

“When civil citations came back, we didn’t have enough money to print a civil citation book for every deputy,” Haines says. “We gave them to school resource officers right away.”

{{business_name}}Escambia County Sherif Chief Deputy Eric Haines Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2015. (Michael Spooneybarger/ Studer Community Institute)

Escambia County Sherif Chief Deputy Eric Haines Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2015. (Michael Spooneybarger/ Studer Community Institute)

“If you pull apart the stats, PPD school resource officers and Escambia school resource officers do the same number of criminal citations,” Haines says. “PPD has a tremendous number of patrol officers doing their civil citations. I have hardly any patrol deputies doing civil citations.”

In part, Haines said, force of habit kept patrol deputies from using the citations.

“Patrol would say, by the time we find out about civil citation, find the mom to sign the ticket, get the victim to sign something, I could drive to juvenile justice and log the arrest,” he says. “Our employees are like any other organization, there’s a tendency to gravitate toward the easier route.”

After Oct. 1, changes to the state law about the use of civil citations will make the number of citations Haines’ agency is responsible for increase.

Haines says under the new law, if you don’t give the civil citation and the teen is eligible for it, you’ve got to write in your report why you didn’t give the civil citation.

“I can tell you right now, if I’m a deputy on the road I can write a civil citation have the mom and him sign it or I have to write a report saying why I didn’t do that? Here’s a civil citation,” Haines says. “Statewide there’s going to be a huge uptick in civil citations. But the law will require it now.”

The teen must admit what they did, their parents have to sign off on the citation and the victim has to agree to the civil citation program.

Parents, too, can be reluctant to sign the citation, Haines says, preferring to let their child “take their chances in court.”

How Santa Rosa has used citations

Sgt. Rich Aloy, public information officer for the Santa Rosa Sheriff’s Office, says the program can save manpower and efficiency in terms of dealing with young offenders who run afoul of the law for a minor offense.

{{business_name}}Santa_Rosa_Sheriff_Office_Rich_Aloy

“For us, I know, I’ve been with juveniles up to 10 hours. It’s beneficial for us to us for manpower, shift coverage and not clogging up the system,” Aloy said.

School resource officers most use the citations, Aloy said, but in the summer patrol and other deputies use them.

Aloy said the Sheriff's Office has moved away from utilizing civil citations, primarily due to the amount of follow up that was required when we utilize those documents.

The county does use Teen Court as a diversion program for young, nonviolent, first-time offenders.

"It is the policy of the Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office to seek out and participate in alternative diversion programs that prove to be beneficial to the growing youth population of Santa Rosa County."

Pensacola Police Chief David Alexander III said the program has been effective at changing some of the racial disparities in how some juvenile incidents are handled.

“It works because it gives the officer a tool that an alternative to putting the kid into the juvenile justice system,” Alexander says.

The system has accountability built into it on several layers. Officers know supervisors will be looking to see that citations are used where it would be appropriate. The perpetrator has to say they did it and make restitution. The parents must agree to get their teen to appearances and fulfill the program’s requirements.

“When it’s looked at from all sides and those parameters are respected you get the best results,” Alexander says.

The parental part, Alexander says, is key.

“We definitely need parents to get involved in what’s happening with their kids,” he says. “(The program) is not going to reach those milestones if the parent is not engaged. That’s the 21st century challenge, getting parents fully involved.”  

School, law enforcement

Concentrating the use of civil citations in the hands predominantly of school resources officers, Alexander says, gives him pause.

{{business_name}}Pensacola Police Chief David Alexander III. Pensacola Police Chief David Alexander III.

"The theory then is all the juvenile crime is happening in school and I don’t think that’s a fair and accurate statement,” he says. “There are a lot of things that start in the community and go into the schools. There’s a perception that we’re making a  lot of arrests in schools, but how accurate is that?”

Department of Juvenile Justice data linked here indicates that for the 2013-2014 school year, Escambia had the 12th highest rate in the state for arrests in school.

Alexander says his school resource officer at Booker T. Washington High School has been there for four years.

“He said, if I had made 8 arrests in four years that would be the max,” Alexander says. “There are kids who go to Washington High School who have been arrested, but that’s for things that have happened outside of school.”

Alexander says as a practice in the city, he tries to “allow the school district to handle all matters that can be handled at the school district’s level.

“The police department will not jump and take something from them, but we have a responsibility as law enforcement to protect victims and hold suspects accountable,” he says.

“It could be a situation where teachers could handle it but they choose not to.”

Culture of policing

In the Sheriff’s Office, some of the initial resistance to the use of civil citations is rooted in the traditional culture of law enforcement, Haines says.

“Cops, we are law enforcement. If there’s crime being committed, you take the person to jail. That is a longstanding tradition of our job,” he says. “People are trying to turn us into a solution for community issues, but by the time the police have to step in, there’s been four or five systems that have completely failed.”

Those systems, Haines says, include everything from lack of proper neonatal and early parenting skills to poverty, economics and the education system.

With all of those things in play, Haines says, fast-forward to “when that kid turns 12 and takes a swing at this teacher. Then we make an arrest and it’s ‘the cop is ruining this kid’s life by arresting him.’ Are you kidding me?

“I know the way the media is, but how did they get there and why are we now responsible for fixing this problem and giving the second and third chances?

“I know it needs to happen, but my officers need a GED to do their job. (Traditionally) we train these people to recognize when a crime has been committed and make the decision to arrest or not arrest.

“Then you start with what about a civil citation, what about a diversionary program, what about this and what about that. Now, you’ve got all this other stuff, but the burden’s not being put on everybody else. Why aren’t the other systems that failed documenting what they did wrong and how they can stop this from happening?”  

{{business_name}}Santa_Rosa_civil_citations-By Month
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