A memorandum of understanding (MOU) tracking DWI offenders could provide accurate information for the City of Carlsbad and Eddy County, said the program director of the Eddy County DWI Program.
“This MOU would allow the Eddy County DWl Program to pay a (Carlsbad) Municipal Court Clerk’s hourly rate of pay (overtime rate of pay for non-exempt employee and hourly rate for exempt employee) to provide tracking information and data on DWl offenders referred by the Carlsbad Municipal Court,” read a memo from Assistant Carlsbad Chief of Police Jaime Balencia.
Eddy County Board of County Commissioners approved the MOU June 15 and the Carlsbad City Council approved it on July 13.
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In the memo, Balencia wrote the Eddy County DWl Program would reimburse the City of Carlsbad for the tracking services by a Municipal Court Clerk, for a total of $5,000.
Cindy Sharif, program of the Eddy County DWI Program, said court ordered compliance for DWI offenders was required under rules and regulations of the Eddy County DWI Grant Program.
“What that is, is using information we receive from the court. We enter the information into the client tracking data base about an individual’s compliance with a court order,” she said.
Sharif said a DWI offender must fill out a tracking sheet that contains information to be entered into the DWI Offender Tracking Base.
“Once a DWI offender has been convicted, completed a screening and assessment, and is sentenced, the sentencing information is obtained from the judgment and sentence handed down from the sentencing court. The Impaired Driving Assessment (IDA) is then entered and this opens the case in the DWI Offender Tracking database,” she said.
Sharif said if an offender was required to complete DWI school. The Eddy County DWI Program would receive information once the offender is finished.
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“We get that information from the court and then we enter it into our tracking database system,” she said.
Balencia said the MOU ensured the Eddy County DWI Program complied with State of New Mexico reporting standards.
“As a required component for program funding is tracking the compliance of New Mexico DWl offenders with court ordered treatment, community service, and other sanctions,” he wrote in the memo.
Sharif said information obtained from a court file helps keep track of individuals who comply and those that do not comply.
“It provides a lot of demographic data for us and we use a lot of this information that end risk for citizens,” she said. “A lot of things an individual is ordered to do is geared toward reducing future incidence of DWI.”
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Mike Smith can be reached at 575-628-5546 or by email at MSmith@currentargus.com or @ArgusMichae on Twitter.
