Proposal Would Create Centers to Handle Drunks

After a series of meetings with law enforcement officials, County Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder has come up with a plan to create a network of “sobering-up centers” for those detained for public drunkenness.

The centers would be staffed by people other than law-enforcement professionals, which would free sheriff’s deputies and highway patrol officers who might otherwise spend hours watching over an intoxicated person in a jail holding cell.

Wieder said police chiefs in her district are struggling to find ways to cope with the growing problem of public drunks, who must be kept off the streets while they sober up.

“Most cities assign a sworn officer to baby-sit during the two to eight hours needed to sober up, taking the officer off the street patrol and away from the services the community needs most,” Wieder said in a statement accompanying her proposal to have county officials study the matter. “This would allow the public safety officer to go back to patrol, while ensuring that the intoxicant is well cared for,” she said.

Huntington Beach Police Chief Ronald E. Lowenberg agrees that such a program could free officers and maybe even save law enforcement some money.

Lowenberg said the number of public intoxicants using such facilities in the county could run into the thousands each month. He said police continually receive calls from business owners and residents reporting drunks staggering around the streets.

Supervisors today are expected to approve Wieder’s request for a feasibility study.