Book 'em, bill 'em
Ald. Zielinski wants to charge arrestees

Aug. 27, 2007 -- The city should charge people the cost of booking them into Milwaukee Police Department custody, according to Ald. T. Anthony Zielinski.

About 40,000 people are booked annually through the Police Department, creating personnel and computer maintenance costs, Zielinski said.

"Have you thought about charging for the trip to jail?" Ald. Robert Bauman quipped.

Police Department Deputy Inspector Anna Ruzinski told the Common Council's Judiciary and Legislation Committee that the fee would be assessed against people who are convicted of offenses other than municipal ordinance violations.

"What do you do if someone's arrested and not charged?" she said. "Obviously, you're not going to charge them a booking fee."

The fee probably would be about $20. State law would need to be changed to allow the city to establish the charge.

"We book a lot of people," Ald. Michael D'Amato said. "Most of the people we book probably don't have much financial means."

Zielinski said the city could realize $800,000 a year in revenue through the proposed fee. Others noted, though, that that figure would be realized only if everyone booked -- including those who are not charged or convicted of a crime -- were charged the fee and the city had a 100% collection rate.

A representative from the city's Legislative Reference Bureau said about 80% of people booked likely would be eligible to be hit with the new fee.

D'Amato, though, said the city has $40 million in unpaid parking fines, and people with parking fines likely are better able to pay them than many of those booked into the jail.

D'Amato asked for more information about collection rates in Minnesota and California, where municipalities are allowed to charge booking fees. The committee will consider the matter again.

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