Lodi Council learns benefits of having jail

Capt. David Griffin with the Lodi Police Department led a presentation that detailed the economical and time-sharing advantages of the Lodi Jail during a Tuesday morning Lodi City Council shirtsleeve meeting at Carnegie Forum.

The jail was constructed in 2004 when the police department moved from 310 W. Elm St. to its current location at 215 W. Elm St.

The jail consists of 10 two-person cells made of glass in addition to a safety cell and a detox cell and was constructed at a cost of $1.4 million.

“Taking every arrestee that will be held for court to French Camp would require us to have a dedicated officer on duty just to handle transports,” Griffin said, referring to the San Joaquin County Jail

The jail allows the department to put people in 72-hour hold for misdemeanor crimes, whereas other cities are forced to cite perpetrators for their crimes to avoid booking and transporting individuals.

Griffin said the jail is run by the police departments’ dispatchers, who often have to double up on jailer and dispatch duties.

The annual budget for the jail is $660,410 which includes $623,952 for jailer salaries — including overtime and training costs — and $55,083 for inmate meals, janitorial services, laundry, computer access fees and blood draw expenses. Last year the jail generated $18,625 in both ad revenue from bail bondsman and collect call fees, which helped lessen the annual cost of the jail.

Griffin said county booking fees per individual averages $275,000 a year — currently, the sheriff’s department charges $113 per inmate booking.

Last year the police department arrested 2,751 individuals for misdemeanor offenses and 873 people on felony charges.

“We had a total number of 3,624 arrests last year, which averages to 10.17 arrests per day, which includes citations and jail bookings,” Griffin said.

He continued, saying 2,504 arrestees were booked at the jail last year and if officers had to transport each arrestee to the county jail, that would total 3,130 officer hours, or 130 24-hour days.

Having a jail also allows the police department to draw blood from intoxicated drivers quickly. Griffin said if the city did not have the jail, officers would have to transport arrestees to the hospital for the blood draws, which could have long wait times and cause a drop in blood alcohol content and, as a result, lead to inaccurate blood alcohol level reports.