Local program to enable low-level offenders (messy) community service alternative to jail

The only thing I may more than a positive “win-win” sentencing story is a positive and amusing sentencing story on a Friday afternoon which readily fosters posting entertaining pictures and links and which might encourage some (punny) reader comments all weekend long.  Thus, I was giddy to come across this new local story out of Michigan, headlined “Sheriff: Sentencing criminals to roadkill cleanup will save Ingham County money.” Here are the basics:

Ingham County Sheriff Gene Wriggelsworth said his agency’s new program putting non-violent offenders to work as roadkill cleanup crews will save taxpayer dollars.

The Dead Animal Recovery Team, or DART, will allow judges to sentence non-violent offenders to cleanup duty as opposed to probation, jail time and other sentences. Wriggelsworth said the new program will save Ingham County $40 a day for each criminal sentenced to DART as opposed to jail time.

“That’s the whole point,” Wriggelsworth said. “The benefit will be cleaner streets clearly, but also the fact that we’ve got people that could have been sentenced to jail working for the community. It’s a win-win.”

The Ingham County Sheriff’s Office has been developing DART for the past several months, Wriggelsworth said. His inspiration came from the Saginaw County Sheriff’s Office where a similar program is employed. The Sheriff’s Office purchased a trailer and equipment such as shovels for DART, at no cost to taxpayers. Wriggelsworth said everything was paid for through inmate booking fee funds.

A volunteer deputy will supervise DART offenders as they work, Wriggelsworth added. “Basically, the only cost to taxpayers is going to be the gas,” he said.

DART will remove smaller animals from Ingham County’s roadways, such as racoons and possums, according to Wriggelsworth. That service is currently nonexistent throughout the county as the Road Commission only removes larger animals. “The smaller animals are just smushed into oblivion,” Wriggelsworth said. “I believe there is a need for (DART).”

Ingham District judges Thomas Boyd and Donald Allen both are supportive of DART and the sentencing alternatives it will provide them. Wriggelsworth emphasized that those sentenced to DART work will only be low-court offenders. “We’re not going to put murderers or rapists out there,” he said.

I hope readers are amused not only by this alternative sentencing story, but also by the picture uploaded with this post which comes from product line at Roadkill Toys. (Pictured here is Twitch, a flattened raccoon.  Checking out some alternative images that might have been posted with this story is not recommended during the lunch hour.)

I think it would be extra cool if Sheriff Gene Wriggelsworth — great name in this context, by the way — would make a habit of rewarding offenders who do especially good work as part of the DART team with one of the “squash-plush toys” sold by the creative folks at Roadkill Toys.  As the website explains, in addition to Twitch there is Grind (a rabbit), Splodge (a hedgehog), Pop (a weasel) and Smudge (a squirrel), and it is important for folks to “get your squash-plush toys before the maggots set in.”