Many residents of Scottsdale are probably familiar with the electronic monitoring program, approved by the Scottsdale City Council last April. The program allows home detention centers for DUI offenders as an alternative to incarceration in the county jail and could end up saving the city of Scottsdale millions of dollars.
Instead of extended jail time for DUI offenders, a home detention program would allow for convicted drunk drivers to wear an ankle bracelet that would monitor the location of a particular person. The ankle bracelet would only allow the offender to be away a certain number of feet away from the house. The house arrest program was supposed to go into effect as early as this summer, but now the Arizona Republic reports that the program has been pushed until at least October. This is because Scottsdale city officials are still looking to find a vendor for the program.
Yet even though the house arrest program has been pushed back by a few months, many people in Scottsdale have an optimistic view on the impact of this program. Officials say that about half of the city's DUI defendants would be able to participate in the program, which means that the new option of house arrests could end up changing the defense tactics of an Arizona DUI attorney. Because the city of Scottsdale pays Maricopa County jail costs and the offenders are expected to reimburse the city for the costs, the Arizona Republic reported that the program is estimated to save the city of Scottsdale $600,000 to $1 million each year.
Related Resources:
- DUI Offenders Might Be Serving Time Through a House Arrest (FindLaw's Phoenix DUI Blog)
- Find a Phoenix DUI Attorney (FindLaw)
- Alternative Sentences (FindLaw)
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