Center could save city $2.9M
Public drunks in Santa Monica may soon be taken to a sobering safe house instead of a hospital or the city jail.
The proposed center, which would be located at 911 Pico Blvd., would keep intoxicated people in custody until they become sober, thereby freeing hospital beds and police officer time and saving the city millions of dollars, supporters say.
“It will be like fast-tracking the jails,” said Santa Monica Fire Department Capt. Bruce Davis. “It would be a very quick booking process. They’re brought in and our officers are back out on the streets again.”
The Clare Foundation, a 32-year-old local social service agency, would manage the proposed center. Two supervisors would work at the center 24 hours a day, taking in between six and 10 drunks each day.
Besides giving the drunks a place to sober up and offering them counseling, the center would provide blankets, sofas, water, juice and granola bars. Its simple three-room operation would consist of an office area and male and female dormitories.
However, not everyone is thrilled about the proposal.
Oscar de la Torre, director of the Pico Youth and Family Center, said before the project is approved, supporters ought to hold a meeting and take input from neighbors and businesses in the area.
“It’s a little scary for young people to be around that type of environment,” said de la Torre, adding that the proposed site is directly across the street from the Pico center and just two blocks from Santa Monica High School. “God forbid a tragedy happen in that neighborhood. Under the influence, people don’t think right.”
Though drunks won’t be forced to stay in the sobering center, police will be notified and the violators will be immediately arrested and booked into the city’s jail if they leave, under an agreement with the Santa Monica Police Department.
De la Torre said if the project does move forward it should be instituted as a pilot program, then tweaked and amended after it is implemented.
Davis said the effect on the neighborhood will be minimal while the overall gain to the community will be significant. He said the center’s proposed site, located next to Clare and managed by Clare, already is used by Culver City and the LAPD to drop off between four and six drunks every day.
At least one community agreed the center was a good idea.
“You can’t hide people from reality,” said Santa Monica City Councilman Herb Katz. “It’s not like people are coming in with a bottle of booze to drink it there. They’re coming in to sober up.”
The bottom line, Davis said, is the sobering center will free up valuable city resources while offering a support network for return counseling. More than 25 percent of clients at a similar facility in Santa Barbara return for voluntary treatment.
In 2002, the SMPD received 3,106 calls related to intoxication and booked an average of 4.5 people per day on public drunkenness charges. The SMFD responded to another 963 alcohol-related calls and Santa Monica and St. John’s hospitals lost a combined total of $250,000 by devoting medical resources to intoxicated people who were sobering up.
Six groups — the Clare Foundation, a local social service agency, the City of Santa Monica, the Santa Monica fire and police departments and the two local hospitals — are behind the proposed center, which must secure funding before it can open.
The center needs $180,000 to start up and cover expenses for one year. After that, it hopes to gain funding from the City of Santa Monica, according to a “Sobering Center Fact Sheet” prepared by Davis.
Clare officials, who ran a similar sobering center program in the late 1980s, estimate that it will cost about $189,000 annually to run the center. Many of the public drunks will be transition into Clare’s 30-day residential recovery program, which is operated next door.
On the sixth return to the sobering center, public drunks will be turned in to local law officials, where they will be prosecuted for being chronic offenders. The end result, Davis said, saves the court system five interactions with the persistent drinkers.
By giving public drunks a place to go other than jail or the hospital, the city expects to save more than $2.9 million, according to the fact sheet.
23D,“Anytime someone gets in that situation, first of all, let’s sober them up so they don’t kill themselves or anyone else anyone,” Katz said. “Second of all let’s find out the cause and try to treat it.
“Everyone that has touched alcohol at one time or another has been inebriated to some degree. And if you’re smart, you don’t want to do it again.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 7, 2003. Read the original PDF.