anxious and scared of probation atms!
lion,tigers, DWIs! Oh my! I was reading in the dallas morning news yesterday about a new program in Dallas where people on probation can report to little kiosk machines similiar to an atm instead of visiting with an actual probation officer. Now only people convicted of certain crimes are able to get into this program and only after a certain amount of time of meeting with an actual probation officer can they be qualified for this program but Im still quite concerned and so are many others.
Heres an actual quote from the paper talking about the people who have reported to the kiosk in the last year since its implementation (database of 900 people)
• Nearly half of them were on probation for driving while intoxicated.
• Twenty had been convicted of drunken driving at least three times, making them felons.
• About half of the 900 were on probation for other felonies, including drug dealing, burglary, engaging in organized crime and, in a few cases, robbery.
• One had attacked two police officers and tried to seize their guns. Under the probation department's written policy, people who have assaulted public servants aren't supposed to report to the machine.
As the article points out so appropriately is that a machine can not smell alcohol on someone's breath or marijuana on someone's clothes. This system allows repeat offenders of DWIs to report to this machine. WHAT? According to Dr. Jim Mills, the probation department's interim director "It's a matter of resources," he said. "Something's got to give somewhere." Hmm well I dont want that something that has to give be the life of my friends, family, my friend's children or any other life because they were hit by a drunk driver who had already had 2 DWIs and was reporting to a machine so was slacking off and getting right back into the same patterns. NO! Look at Jacqueline Renfro a school teacher who was with her children when they were hit by a repeat drunk driver!(it doesnt say anyone died in this instance fortunately but the point remains the same.) how many more people have to die at the hands of repeat drunk driving offenders? The whole point of probation (at least to me having never gone through that) is a program that provides incentive for them to improve their habbits which is reinforced by their face to face meetings with a probation officer. They know that if caught breaking their probation, they could end up in prison for the first time or back in prison depending on the case. Without that interaction and knowing you can type some bullshit no/yes answers
such as
Has your address changed since your last report?
Have you changed jobs?
Have you used alcohol or drugs?
Have you been arrested or otherwise had contact with the justice system?
If answering yes to any question, probationers are supposed to write an explanation on a paper form and place it in a box.
The machine itself accepts money orders for fines and fees, which are placed in an envelope and passed through a slot.
People can easily lie to a machine and without that accountablity of a probation officer, they will quickly fall back into their old habbits
look at this statistic
The News spot-checked the 900 machine users' names in recent Dallas County criminal records and found 18 who had been re-arrested while reporting to the machine. Nine were DWI convicts charged with drunken driving again.
I would love to hear your thoughts on this new machine and its effectiveness.
Oh also today, we had to give a presentation for my design class and I did the makeup design part. Now I may be one of the most flambouyant people you know (for those of you who know me--sometimes stuff just starts on fire around me and i have no idea why. lol), I can perform in drag, and am very social, but when it comes to getting up in front of my entire class no matter how big the class is and giving a presentation or just talking, I get so nervous and anxious. I normally speed through whatever I have to say and forget to say certain things I had planned to say. I do not know why either. I really need to work on this somehow. I think I have to take a speach class and maybe that will be good for me. As a designer, I will have to make lots of presentations to directors,other designers and other people on the technical crew for whatever production I am working on so its not going to go away.With pageants, Ill have to do onstage question and interviews too so i just need to get more comfortable with things like that (interviews like one on one im fine though. its more of when in front of a big group) I tried to tell myself breathe, relax today but it didnt work too well! I think the presentation went well though and I was alittle more relaxed than normal so that was good but I still missed saying certain information that I had planned to say.
Heres an actual quote from the paper talking about the people who have reported to the kiosk in the last year since its implementation (database of 900 people)
• Nearly half of them were on probation for driving while intoxicated.
• Twenty had been convicted of drunken driving at least three times, making them felons.
• About half of the 900 were on probation for other felonies, including drug dealing, burglary, engaging in organized crime and, in a few cases, robbery.
• One had attacked two police officers and tried to seize their guns. Under the probation department's written policy, people who have assaulted public servants aren't supposed to report to the machine.
As the article points out so appropriately is that a machine can not smell alcohol on someone's breath or marijuana on someone's clothes. This system allows repeat offenders of DWIs to report to this machine. WHAT? According to Dr. Jim Mills, the probation department's interim director "It's a matter of resources," he said. "Something's got to give somewhere." Hmm well I dont want that something that has to give be the life of my friends, family, my friend's children or any other life because they were hit by a drunk driver who had already had 2 DWIs and was reporting to a machine so was slacking off and getting right back into the same patterns. NO! Look at Jacqueline Renfro a school teacher who was with her children when they were hit by a repeat drunk driver!(it doesnt say anyone died in this instance fortunately but the point remains the same.) how many more people have to die at the hands of repeat drunk driving offenders? The whole point of probation (at least to me having never gone through that) is a program that provides incentive for them to improve their habbits which is reinforced by their face to face meetings with a probation officer. They know that if caught breaking their probation, they could end up in prison for the first time or back in prison depending on the case. Without that interaction and knowing you can type some bullshit no/yes answers
such as
Has your address changed since your last report?
Have you changed jobs?
Have you used alcohol or drugs?
Have you been arrested or otherwise had contact with the justice system?
If answering yes to any question, probationers are supposed to write an explanation on a paper form and place it in a box.
The machine itself accepts money orders for fines and fees, which are placed in an envelope and passed through a slot.
People can easily lie to a machine and without that accountablity of a probation officer, they will quickly fall back into their old habbits
look at this statistic
The News spot-checked the 900 machine users' names in recent Dallas County criminal records and found 18 who had been re-arrested while reporting to the machine. Nine were DWI convicts charged with drunken driving again.
I would love to hear your thoughts on this new machine and its effectiveness.
Oh also today, we had to give a presentation for my design class and I did the makeup design part. Now I may be one of the most flambouyant people you know (for those of you who know me--sometimes stuff just starts on fire around me and i have no idea why. lol), I can perform in drag, and am very social, but when it comes to getting up in front of my entire class no matter how big the class is and giving a presentation or just talking, I get so nervous and anxious. I normally speed through whatever I have to say and forget to say certain things I had planned to say. I do not know why either. I really need to work on this somehow. I think I have to take a speach class and maybe that will be good for me. As a designer, I will have to make lots of presentations to directors,other designers and other people on the technical crew for whatever production I am working on so its not going to go away.With pageants, Ill have to do onstage question and interviews too so i just need to get more comfortable with things like that (interviews like one on one im fine though. its more of when in front of a big group) I tried to tell myself breathe, relax today but it didnt work too well! I think the presentation went well though and I was alittle more relaxed than normal so that was good but I still missed saying certain information that I had planned to say.
posted by gapfashionprep @ 9:21 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home