San Marcos City Council should pursue cite and release ordinance as proposed

Having recently retired as Attorney for Students at Texas State University for the past twenty years, I have witnessed far too many occasions where young people were arrested and given a permanent record for what we now see as minor offenses. Once the arrest records are posted online for the world to see, regardless of the guilt or innocence, that person has a record that will follow them for the rest of their lives. No expunction can clear the Internet of something once it is posted and the damage is done. There is simply no need to do this to future professionals or any other community members — and as part of that community, we certainly do not benefit from it.

On Tuesday, San Marcos City Council will decide the fate of a proposed ordinance intended to end needless arrests for low-level, non-violent offenses.

In 2007, the Texas Legislature, under Republican guidance, formalized the right of municipal police departments to enact “cite and release” policy: instead of handcuffing and jailing local residents for minor offenses, the accused could simply be given a summons to appear in court for the charge at a later date. This saves the accused of the trauma of jail, allows police officers more time on the streets to deal with more serious crimes against people and property and cuts the exorbitant costs of utilizing the county jail.

However, until very recently, “cite and release” has been used sparingly in San Marcos.

Hays County data revealed that in 2018, the San Marcos Police Department arrested individuals for citation-eligible offenses 94% of the time.

Our community recoiled from these findings of excessive arrests — including a revelation that Black individuals were arrested in all 72 instances of citation-eligible offenses. Not a single Black person was given a citation for an eligible offense in 2018.

Which brings us to the core of the cite and release proposal before City Hall. Unfortunately, the critical decision before our city council — whether to provide guidance for officers on use of the cite and release process — has been muddled by imprecise framing.

zIn the October 15 meeting, City Attorney Michael Cosentino sized up the choice before Council as follows: “Do you want an ordinance that mandates — that makes it mandatory — to give a citation in every instance where there is an eligible offense, or continues to allow the police officers to exercise their discretion?

His concern echoes alarmism conveyed by the San Marcos Police Officers Association. However, the sentiment does not accurately convey the choice that city council faces and instead unnecessarily raises alarm.

In truth, the draft ordinance would make citations the default choice for SMPD officers for eligible offenses — but allows officers to use their discretion to arrest if disqualifying circumstances are present, such as when the individual cannot sufficiently identify themselves , is a danger to themselves or others, or has an active warrant out for their arrest, among others...

San Marcos City Council should pursue the cite and release ordinance as proposed — ensuring that citations are the norm for low-level offenses, and arrests are a rare exception, only when officers exercise their discretion to arrest based on the outlined disqualifying circumstances. The Texas Legislature gave us this option and there is no reason we shouldn’t embrace it as other communities have done.

This council-supported guidance will usher an end to excessive jailing, and the cost and trauma it inflicts on our community, while allowing our officers to focus time and resources on more worthwhile safety concerns.

Shannon FitzPatrick

San Marcos