Boy, here’s a resource I bet Mark Richt wishes he could avail upon himself in Athens: “In Madison, Bielema even had a network of local cops who told him which players were out at which bars on which nights.”
Sadly, that’s probably a firing offense if you’re a member of the ACCPD.
And here’s an even more alien concept – local government criticism of overly zealous crime enforcement. (h/t Andy Staples)
Commissioner Robert “Hutch” Hutchinson brought up his concerns over the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office’s small-scale busts for marijuana possession in the community.
He said he has reviewed records that show numerous cases in which people were put in jail for related misdemeanors and remained there for 30 to 40 days at a time, which costs the local government money.
Hutchinson suggested that, in a couple of years, the county begin reducing the Sheriff’s Office’s budget by a certain amount per person for every individual put in jail for this kind of offense during the prior year as an incentive to direct the department’s priorities elsewhere.
“Right now, there’s no disincentive whatsoever,” he said. That money and effort could go to drug treatment and prevention work instead.
“I want to help them re-prioritize because there’s a lot of other things they could be doing,” Hutchinson said.
Not saying whether that’s right or wrong. But as mindsets go, it sure is a world away from what Richt deals with.
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