Heated debate as county moves forward with pretrial office

Jailing accused criminals in El Paso could be changing. The county is moving forward with a long-debated new office meant to save the county money in jail costs in the long run. Commissioners voted 4-1 Monday to take the next steps in creating a new pretrial services office.

But nothing is set in stone, with more debate likely on the horizon as commissioners put more policies and actions in place for the office. Judges, bondsmen and the public got heated at times in Monday’s commissioners court meeting. Some even called out Commissioner Vince Perez, a major proponent of the plan.

Anyone can be arrested, whether you did the crime or not, and getting out of jail isn’t always quick and easy. Perez thinks, under certain circumstances, it should be. And he took a lot of hits because of it Monday.

“You’re moving forward with a plan that has excluded stakeholders,” said Stephanie Townsend Allala, attorney for the Professional Bondsmen of El Paso. “So that’s where the intellectual dishonesty is.”

Harsh words like those were part of the discussion in commissioners court chambers as the controversial pretrial office moves toward reality, with Perez as the main target.

But other members of the bail bond community also expressed concerns about the process as a whole. That concern was echoed by members of the council of judges.
Ultimately, Perez argues this will help the county, the accused and taxpayers. He denies he has been dishonest in any part of this process.

“Absolutley not,” Perez said. “I mean, from the very beginning we have talked about this, we have talked and explained this.You know, it’s a very complex topic.”

With Moday’s vote to approve the office, the county will have until October to hire and consolidate existing staff and ramp up to take over pretrial duties from the probation department.