There must be a misprint in this morning's New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung. Someone is actually making a reasonable proposal having to do with law enforcement on the Comal and Guadalupe Rivers. State Rep Doug Miller is introducing legislation that would change some criminal trespassing cases from Class B Misdemeanors to Class C Misdemeanors. This is being proposed in response to the number of arrests made every summer on the Comal and Guadalupe. Most of the property along these two rivers is private, and when tubers get out of the river at places not open to the public (to rearrange clothing, grab a drink, wait for friends who are upriver, etc.) they may be committing criminal trespass. At the moment, Criminal Trespass is a Class B Misdemeanor, which means it carries a potential jail sentence of up to 180 days, or supervised probation of up to two years (not to mention that is can leave a permanent mark on someone's criminal record).
Changing some Criminal Trespass cases to Class C Misdemeanors would lower the potential punishment to a fine of $500.00, essentially making the offense the legal equivalent of a traffic ticket. Not only would this make life easier for the people being charged (most of whom weren't trying to harm anyone) but also make life easier for local law enforcement. Police now spend countless hours making arrests for Criminal Trespass on the rivers every summer -- which includes the time not only to take a person into custody, but also to transport the person to jail, book them, generate a police report, and take the person in front a magistrate to set bail. Taking these people to jail also takes up badly in needed bed space in a jail that is often bulging at the seams during the summer. Allowing a Criminal Trespass to be a Class C misdemeanor in some circumstances would give cops greatly leeway to simply issue a citation to someone rather than making a full-blown arrest. Like I said, this makes a lot of sense, so I'm not holding my breath on this actually getting passed in the Texas Legislature. But I will cross my fingers and keep you posted as this bill is considered.