This article by Grits for Breakfast is a great post about "epidemic" Class-C misdemeanor arrests in Texas. Grits for Breakfast (I'm assuming this was who wrote the post since none of the posts list an author) has a history in politics and political journalism and has maintained this blog since 2004. He has been working in criminal-justice reform in an effort to secure legislation and reform in the Texas justice system. He seems to be a very credible source with lots of experience and sticks to more facts than most blogs I have read.
This article is, and should be, directed towards anyone with an interest in Texas politics. The article itself states facts and statistics with no blatant skew or bias.
I agree with this reform in Class-C misdemeanor (warrantless) arrests. I never realized how many people were arrested for Class-C misdemeanors; which don't even include a jail sentence. This not only seems completely useless and unjust but it wastes taxpayer dollars and officers' time. Judging by the 57% decline in these types of arrests, I would say that Austin did have epidemic levels of warrantless arrests before the new policies were put in place to reduce the arrests. Unfortunately, the rest of Texas still has a problem, with warrantless arrests totaling 30,000 in a year within 12 of the 25 largest counties in Texas. These numbers only reflect warrantless arrests and leave out other things like traffic stops that lead to felony charges. I believe that it is unjust to conduct this level of arrests for Class-C misdemeanors because these arrests were being abused as ways to search a citizen's vehicle.
Texas should set priorities to lower unnecessary arrests, whether it be for traffic violations or possession of small amounts of marijuana. These unnecessary arrests waste taxpayer dollars and diminish the trust in public safety officials, especially in officers.
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