SAN DIEGO COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : Opening Some Much-Needed Jail Space

Thanks to creative, multi-agency cooperation, thousands of alleged gang members, weapons-law violators and drunk drivers in San Diego County may finally see the inside of a jail cell.

It’s about time. Many of these people have been thumbing their noses at the law for years, knowing that the county’s critically overcrowded jail system simply had no room to house misdemeanor suspects.

But the city of San Diego opened the state’s first privately operated municipal jail last May, an innovation that produced 200 jail beds. Now, a task force is using the facility to clear some of the county’s 670,000 outstanding misdemeanor warrants. This is a welcome switch from a time when suspects ignored the law with impunity.

All levels of government involved--from city police to federal marshals--deserve credit for this cooperative effort. But don’t expect a fiscal windfall for the cash-strapped city or county. Only a very small percentage of the outstanding fines collected will actually wind up in city or county coffers. The vast majority of funds collected will go to the state.

Indeed, the crackdown may not be cost-effective at all in terms of money recouped by law-enforcement agencies. But justice is priceless--and anything that helps restore its credibility is a worthy investment.