Information of Interest From Two Meetings This Week

[todoug]

Attached you will find information from two meetings I attended this week that I wanted to share with you.  The first meeting was at Harris County Kim Ogg's office to review the results two years after the start of the Misdemeanor Marijuana Diversion Program, MMDP.

As you can see in the second attachment, over 4,000 people have successfully completed the program. The critical point is that there will be no criminal record for this charge, as was previously the case, which can severely affect future job prospects, and it is estimated that over $18 million has been saved from officer's time to transport people to jail and be off the streets for other critical events, as well as the substantial costs of having them in the jail.

It is important to note that this is not a "cite and release" program where someone is stopped for an infraction and a ticket is issued but they are not taken to jail.  In that instance, because a ticket is issued, there is a criminal record, but that is not the case with the MMDP program.

The third attachment is from last night's PIP meeting at the West Side Command Station.  It was shared by Sargent T.D. Griffin with the Auto Dealers Detail and describes the Tow and Go program which provides a free tow if you breakdown on a freeway in the City of Houston. If you have any questions about this, you can contact him at this e-mail address: hpd.aut...@houstonpolice.org

It is important to note that this program does not apply if you are involved in an accident.  Sargent Griffin stressed that, if you are involved in an accident and a tow truck driver asks you to sign any paper work, read it VERY carefully since there are scams where citizens end up paying thousands of unnecessary dollars because they signed away their rights.  The best option if your car needs to be towed, is to insist that it be towed to a City approved storage lot.

I hope you find this information of interest.

Regards

Doug Smith