To reduce drunken driving on county roads, Pulaski County District Judge Wayne Gruber is ready to start his own DWI court.
He has two reasons for such a court: DWI arrests haven't gone down in his 15 years as a judge -- in fact, they've gone up -- and the county is facing increased pressure on its usually full jail.
"I thought maybe this court should try something new," Gruber said.
Gruber's court will be the second such undertaking in the county -- Sherwood has the first. About a dozen exist across the state.
In a DWI court, a person convicted of driving while intoxicated undergoes an assessment that determines the sort of treatment authorities believe he needs to prevent another occurrence of drunken driving or of alcohol abuse.
The person convicted then attends treatment, such as counseling, three times each week and is subject to random testing for alcohol use. The program lasts several weeks and changes over time, based on progress, until the person graduates from the program.
Jail time still may have to be served, Gruber said, but the benefit of the program is the treatment and supervision provided by the court. The program will help keep people from driving drunk and endangering themselves and others, he said.
"We ought to make an effort to see if we can do something [to prevent reoffending]," Gruber said.
A person enters the program voluntarily, and courts seek participants who appear to have drinking problems.
Entry requirements for the program in Pulaski County will be determined at a later date, district court clerk Carol Wilkins said.
Batesville District Judge Chaney Taylor said people who have been arrested for drunken driving more than once or who are pulled over with a blood alcohol level of 0.15 percent or greater tend to have drinking problems.
Taylor, who advised Gruber to start a DWI court, started the first one in Arkansas in 2009.
He doesn't track what happens to participants in the program, although he plans to in the future for compliance with Act 895 of 2015, Gov. Asa Hutchinson's criminal-justice overhaul bill.
Taylor said he thinks the program has reduced the number of repeat offenders in his county.
"So far, we believe that we've had a pretty good success rate," he said, with only a handful of the 70 participants reoffending.
"It's one of the most rewarding things I've done as judge," Taylor added.
There has been a reduction in DWI convictions in Taylor's court since 2009, according to data from the Arkansas Judiciary's Administrative Office of the Courts. In 2009, his court had 194 DWI convictions. In 2014, his court had 82.
In 2014, Pulaski County District Court had 328 first-offense DWI convictions, 69 second-offense convictions and six third-offense convictions. The offenses the court handles are committed primarily on roads in the county's unincorporated area.
The court does not handle fourth offenses, because those are felonies.
Offenses are tracked over five years, meaning a person charged with a DWI six years after his first DWI charge will have the second charge considered as a first offense in court.
According to the National Association of Drug Court Professionals, DWI-court participants are up to 19 times less likely to get a new DWI offense than DWI offenders sentenced by a traditional court.
The group reports decreased recidivism rates through programs in Michigan, Wisconsin and Georgia, and the support of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the National Alcohol Beverage Control Association, and other legal and highway-safety groups.
The National Association of Drug Court Professionals is where the Pulaski County District Court's DWI team will get its training in December.
The training will be funded through a $15,000 grant awarded by the Arkansas State Police that must be formally appropriated into the court's budget by the Pulaski County Quorum Court at its meeting Tuesday.
After that, Gruber's team will get the court started, ideally by mid-January. The team will consist of officials from the district court, prosecuting attorney's office, public defender's office and county sheriff's office.
Gruber does not intend to hire additional staff members to handle the court because he said he wants to keep the work concentrated in existing offices.
Wilkins said she anticipates the court being able to serve about 10 people at a time and 50 people in a year.
The program will be operated by Recovery Centers of Arkansas, and people who want to participate in it will have to pay for their treatment based on a payment plan if insurance does not cover it.
Sometimes insurance will cover it, Gruber said.
Taylor said private insurance has covered some treatment for his program's participants, adding that Medicaid and coverage under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has sometimes paid treatment costs.
Taylor additionally funds his DWI court through an annual bike ride that he's trying to build upon. With money from a few sponsors and Taylor's mother, it currently raises less than $1,000 per year.
Barry Hyde, county judge of Pulaski County -- the chief executive of county government -- ran for office last year proposing to implement alternatives to incarceration.
He has been working with Little Rock District Judge Alice Lightle on a rehabilitation program for people with mental illness and mental or physical disabilities. The program has taken two participants so far on a trial basis but hasn't yet started fully.
Hyde also has proposed ankle monitors for people charged with crimes who can't go to jail because of limited space, but he has backed off that idea. He said the lack of space in the jail means a person with an ankle monitor knows he won't be punished for not following the terms of his monitoring.
While Hyde has not been involved in Gruber's decision to start a DWI court, Hyde said he's glad the judge is doing it for the safety of county roads and to help reduce the jail population.
"We hope it's effective in allowing us to have safer streets," Hyde said. "Drug courts do a very good job at keeping people out of the system," he added.
For Taylor, the lives improved are the payoff of the DWI court.
He recalled running into a former participant recently who hugged him and thanked him for the program.
"He's gotten himself straight. He's gotten himself to where he's not drinking and driving anymore," Taylor said.
"We do believe we're doing better than just locking people up in jail," Taylor added.
Metro on 10/25/2015