CROWDING MAY KEEP SOME OFFENDERS OUT OF JAIL

Pinellas County Sheriff Everett Rice has asked his deputies and local
police to help ease jail crowding by cutting down on the number of people
they take to jail for misdemeanor offenses.

In a June 30 memo, Rice asked all county law enforcement agencies to order
more misdemeanor defendants to appear in court rather than take them to
jail.

"I do not expect any relief from this problem until the new jail facility
comes on line in 1999," Rice wrote.

Deputies and police at most Pinellas agencies said the only people eligible
to avoid jail are those charged with non-violent misdemeanors, such as
possession of a small amount of marijuana or shoplifting.

"Generally, these are the people that are the borderline cases, where maybe
they should go to jail and maybe they shouldn't," said Clearwater police
spokesman Wayne Shelor. "Somebody who has been caught red-handed in a
burglary or who just beat the hell out of their wife or someone who was
driving under the influence of alcohol is not a candidate."

Construction on the new jail, which has been delayed more than half a dozen
times, is not expected to be completed until spring 1999. The $30-million
facility, which will hold 796 new beds, is funded by a 1-cent addition to
the county's sales tax.

In the meantime, the county's current facility is bursting at the seams.
Capacity at the 49th Street jail is 2,261. As of Friday, the inmate count
stood at 2,500. Corrections officers have dealt with the overflow by
placing mattresses on the floors of some cells, according to sheriff's
spokesman Sgt. Greg Tita.

Tita said Rice and other law enforcement officials are frustrated with the
slow pace of construction on the jail.

"I think there's a great deal of frustration on behalf of the detention
deputies that daily have to watch the overcrowding and be promised that
relief is in sight only to be told that there are more delays," Tita said.
"It makes their job more difficult and it makes the inmates' stay in the
county jail that much harder."

The county's official in charge of building the new jail said the
construction delays have come as a result of program and planning decisions
that have required alterations in the plans.

"There's just been a lot of issues we've been struggling with," said Carl
Barron, director of general services for Pinellas County. "But we've got a
very strong commitment to the sheriff to try and get this thing on line."

According to Tita, the jail population is running above average this year
partly as a result of mandatory sentencing guidelines and more aggressive
law enforcement. "The population is still up and it may have even risen
higher had notice to appears not been issued," he said.

Under a notice to appear, a person is asked to sign a paper agreeing to
appear in court on a certain date, rather than being booked.

Tita said the county has resorted to requesting the notices in the past,
when overcrowding at the jail threatened to become grave.

Local police officials said they have heeded Rice's request, issuing the
notices in some misdemeanor cases.

A spokesman for the St. Petersburg Police Department said notices to appear
are being used largely for city code violations, but they could also be
used for minor drug offenses when officers believe it appropriate.

"The jail is there for the more serious offenders, and the reason we have
NTAs is to be able to address the non-serious offender," said spokesman
Bill Doniel. "And it has worked very well."

St. Pete Beach police officers are using notices to appear in cases such as
possession of marijuana, shoplifting or disorderly conduct, said Lt. Todd
Kirchgraber.

"We're taking a harder look at it and when we do come in contact with
someone we do our best to issue the (notice to appear)," he said "But we're
not turning our back on an obvious criminal offense."

In Largo, officers have used the notices in place of arrests in several
misdemeanor drug cases, a scenario they would mostly like to avoid, a
spokesman said.

"It kind of puts a little crimp on it," said Sgt. Mark Young. "But we try
and do our best and need to help out the Sheriff's Office, too."

Checked-by: (Joel W. Johnson)