The City of Tempe reported a decrease in minor in consumption and possession citations from 2010 to 2011, based on numbers from the Minor in Possession Program, a substance abuse class for first-time offenders.
A March 22 report showed a 17 percent decrease in minor in possession of alcohol charges filed by the Tempe Municipal Court, with 291 charges in 2011. Minor in consumption charges during that period fell 26 percent to 1,499 in 2011.
Robert Hubbard, manager of the City Attorney’s Office, attributed the decrease to an overall decrease in criminal offenses in the past three years.
ASU Police and Tempe Police use the Minor in Possession Program as a diversion process for first-time MIC and MIP offenders in lieu of paying fines up to $700, Hubbard said.
Offenders who choose the eight-hour, $131 course are given 60 days until their court date to complete it and have the offense dropped from their criminal record.
“This is important when you’re filling out applications and such,” Hubbard said.
Hubbard said during one court case, a man argued that if he’s old enough to die for his country, he should be old enough to drink legally. When Hubbard told him to join the military, the man said he didn’t want to.
“You’re the one that brought it up,” he said. “You go serve, and I’ll dismiss your case.”
According to the report, fewer participants are completing the course, down 29 percent in 2011 from the 1,050 who completed in 2010.
Nearly 50 percent of MIC offenders in both 2010 and 2011 completed the course, Tempe reported.
The course relieves offenders because it allows them to fix and learn from their mistakes, Tempe Police Cmdr. Mark Perkovich said.
“This is a tremendous opportunity to get that second chance so it doesn’t blemish criminal history and follow people around,” Perkovich said.
Most incidents occur in residence halls and at house parties, Perkovich said, and typically happen at night on weekends.
Half of the total number of offenders who did not register for the course chose to opt out of the program or were repeat offenders who were ineligible to take it again, ASU Assistant Chief of Police Allen Clark said.
“It’s time consuming,” Clark said. “They choose to pay for (their citation) in lieu of spending a Saturday in diversion; or it could be they don’t understand the program, which is where the education component comes in.”
The program teaches alcohol safety and reminds participants of the laws on alcohol consumption.
A few who take the class become second or multiple offenders because they didn’t take it seriously, Social Services Supervisor Tim Cox said.
“If they haven’t learned their lesson the first time, hopefully they’ll learn the second time,” Cox said. “If they took their initial experience seriously … the likelihood of reoffending isn’t that serious.”
Reach the reporter at sraymund@asu.edu
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