The San Marcos City Council will vote on a proposed ordinance encouraging the use of cite-and-release. If passed, it will be the first ordinance of its kind in the state of Texas.
The council met March 3 to discuss the proposed ordinance for the first time in a public setting. The discussion comes after being rescheduled in February, eight months after it was first proposed in July of 2019.
The ordinance seeks to guide San Marcos Police Department officers’ discretion, allowing them to issue citations for class C misdemeanors and some cases of class A and class B misdemeanors instead of making an arrest.
According to Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, officers can issue citations for low-level offenses but are allowed discretion.
One of the central questions was whether the proposed ordinance would move forward as an ordinance or resolution.
Advocates of the ordinance gathered outside city hall and in the lobby to voice their support for the ordinance pushed by local grassroots organization Mano Amiga.
A majority of council members support it as an ordinance, effectively setting the stage for a permanent law. If implemented, San Marcos will become the first city in Texas with a cite-and-release ordinance. Among those in favor is Councilman Mark Rockeymoore, chairman of the Criminal Justice Reform Committee, who said he personally spent a night in jail for a class C misdemeanor.
“I spent the entire night in jail and it affected a full decade and further of my life,” Rockeymoore said. “So I understand the necessity of having this type of reform.”
Mayor Jane Hughson said she would like to continue to monitor officer discretion in cite-and-release cases and review reports after 90 days before considering an official ordinance.
“I am not ready to do an ordinance at this point in time and that’s my opinion for today,” Hughson said.
However, Hughson said arresting and jailing when not needed is a waste of police time and county funds, and can have a profound effect on an individual’s life. Later, Hughson vowed to make the reform as effective as possible if it were to move forward as an ordinance.
“If an ordinance is to be, I am going to work really hard to make it as good as it can be,” Hughson said.
Concerns were raised over some of the qualifying misdemeanors for cite-and-release, specifically criminal mischief, graffiti, theft of property and theft of services, as all of them involve damage to citizens or their property.
Additionally, the council discussed whether to keep the word “only” in the ordinance where it lists specific circumstances in which an officer can make an arrest for a cite-eligible offense. Hughson and council member Ed Mihalkanin were concerned the inclusion of the word would be too limiting of officer discretion.
However, the council ultimately decided to keep the list of qualifying misdemeanors and the original verbiage as-is.
During a Jan. 28 Criminal Justice Reform Committee meeting, Assistant Chief of Police Brandon Winkenwerder presented data collected by SMPD showing the total low-level arrest offenses in 2018 and 2019.
The data showed that 543 arrests for low-level offenses were made in 2018, 146 of which were eligible for cite-and-release. This is comparable to 398 arrests in 2019, 134 of which were eligible. A total of 22 citations were given in 2018 and 31 in 2019.
Additionally, in September 2019, Hays County released data showing that of the 72 eligible cases that involved a black individual in 2018, SMPD arrested in all instances.
According to Mano Amiga, members of the council promised to allow the grassroots organization to be included in the Criminal Justice Committee.
On March 3, Austin City Council Member Greg Casar, sponsor of the Freedom City Policy – which aims to stop both arrests and citations for low-level offenses – sent a letter to the San Marcos City Council at the request of Mano Amiga detailing the policy’s success and the importance of including members of the community into their community stakeholder meetings.
Mano Amiga Policy Director Eric Martinez said although he is pleased with the outcome of the council’s discussion, he hopes they will fall back on their previous commitment.
“Mano Amiga appreciates that council members have, at long last, followed through in bringing the ordinance to a vote, and we’re especially pleased by Mayor Hughson’s dignified pledge to make the ordinance as effective as possible,” Martinez said. “However, we’d also appreciate them honoring their commitment to us last summer to bring Mano Amiga onto the committee, given our expertise on these issues.”
The council is expected to vote on the proposed ordinance after spring break April 7, 2020.
San Marcos City Council meets every first and third Tuesday at 6 p.m. of each month. The agenda can be accessed through the Agenda Center on the City of San Marcos website.