DUI Court Maps Out A Tough New Road

In a Bartow courtroom Tuesday afternoon, Circuit Judge Randall McDonald presided over an innovative attempt to make sure repeat offenders kick their drunk driving habit.

Polk County's new DUI Court, the first countywide program of its kind in Florida, will combine strict, three-times-a-week testing for alcohol and drug use with the promise of less jail time for those who successfully complete the program.

The year-long program also includes counseling, home visits by a probation officer and required attendance at three or more meetings a week of Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous.

The alternative for repeat offenders, McDonald said, is "they'd just be thrown into jail, and then when they get out of jail, there would be very little support available."

Polk County already has a Drug Court, and the success of that program helped persuade officials to begin one aimed specifically at repeat DUI offenders who face stays in county jail and a high risk of re-offending.

At Tuesday's inaugural session of DUI Court, three people appeared before McDonald. Court officials say they expect the program initially will serve about 50 people a year.

McDonald is the only judge assigned to the court and for now anticipates court sessions once every two weeks. All the offenders must attend the biweekly sessions to review their progress. Offenders who mess up face sanctions ranging from fines to jail time.

McDonald got updates from Rick Huntley, the Drug Court's DUI counselor, on each of the men who would appear before him.

"I'm kind of unsure of him and his demeanor toward the program," Huntley said of a four-time offender. "I would say right now he's complying. But he asked me, if the department's going to revoke my license for life, why bother?"

"OK, we'll have to have a little talk with him," McDonald said.

Another man lives in Orlando but was arrested for DUI in Polk County, and he worried that he wouldn't be able to meet the program's requirement that he travel to Bartow three times a week to be drug and alcohol tested at a lab.

Huntley said the man wanted to know if he could seek treatment in Orlando instead.

"Absolutely not," McDonald said. "This brings up a good issue. I'm not going to start trading out and plea-bargaining. We lose all our credibility if we do that."

The program has strict, time-consuming conditions, which include the thrice-weekly testing in Bartow to be followed by an hour of counseling, three to four AA or NA meetings a week, attending the court to check in with the DUI Court team every two weeks, staying employed if possible, and meeting any other conditions that are recommended by the treatment team.

A probation officer, who is assigned solely to DUI Court, will make random visits to the participants' homes to make sure they are complying with their obligations.

One DUI Court participant told McDonald he was concerned about being able to continue to work in construction while meeting the requirements of the program. Sometimes his boss needs him to work out of town.

"I'll do it, I'm just saying, it's tough financially," he told McDonald.

"It's going to be tough," McDonald said. "This is, what, your fourth DUI?"

"Two of them were twenty years ago," the man said.

"But two of them were recent," McDonald said.

A third man appearing before McDonald was more enthusiastic. "This is just a blessing of a program for me," he said.

McDonald is hoping the program will be a blessing for everybody. Planning for the program began over a year ago, when McDonald and several other Polk County courthouse employees visited a program in Athens, Ga., which has become a model for others in the country. The Athens program started in February 2001.

Although there are 1,927 drug courts nationwide, according to C.W. Huddleston, CEO of the national Drug Court Institute, so far, there only 81 DWI (or DUI) courts nationwide, and 249 drug courts that also target drunk driving offenders.

Most of them are based on the same model, targeting repeat offenders, and offering them a chance of reduced or no jail time, if they participate in intensive drug or alcohol treatment programs.

In Florida, a county judge in Marion County started a DUI program, but it hasn't yet become available countywide, McDonald said.

The Polk program gets funding from a $90,700 grant from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, with $85,700 to be used for salaries for the counselor and probation officer who will work fulltime for the program, and the rest will cover incidentals like mileage and computers for the program, McDonald said.

The Ledger