Weymouth police seek more bail to hold them in jail By JACK ENCARNACAO The Patriot Ledger WEYMOUTH - Police want repeat drunken drivers who get arrested on the weekend to stay in jail until Monday.
Weymouth Police Chief James Thomas is ordering officers to ask for higher than normal bail for accused repeat drunken drivers who are arrested on weekends.
The idea is to prevent them from getting back on the road the same weekend, Thomas said.
‘‘What I'm trying to do is make it more difficult for repeat offenders to be released, and then they’re back out over the weekend doing the same thing,’’ Thomas said. ‘‘For repeat offenders, we’ve asked that they request more bail.’’
On-call court clerks who are available by phone to deal with weekend arrests can release a person for as little as a $40 fee and a promise to show up in court for arraignment Monday.
That was the case earlier this month in Pembroke where a woman who had been driving with her three children was arrested and charged with second-offense drunken driving and released from police custody after posting $40 bail.
Thomas said he fears that repeat drunken drivers who are let out of jail might get back behind the wheel.
‘‘If we had a repeat offender in here and he gets arrested late Friday night, and he’s bailed and released, he’s got all day Saturday and all day Sunday,’’ Thomas said. ‘‘If he goes out and he commits another offense, we don’t want people pointing the finger at the police department saying, ‘You just let him go.’’’
Weymouth police who arrested a Pembroke man Saturday night on a charge of second-offense drunken driving asked for $5,000 bail.
The driver could not come up with the money and spent the rest of the weekend in jail until his arraignment in Quincy District Court on Monday, when a judge released him on personal recognizance.
Weymouth police asked for $1,000 bail for a Hull woman who was also charged with second-offense drunken driving over the weekend. A Hull man charged with seventh-offense drunken driving was held for the weekend without bail.
Judges on Monday reduced bail in the second-offense cases, releasing the defendants on their promise to return to court in January.
A judge ordered the man charged with seventh-offense drunken driving held on $10,000 cash bail after his arraignment.
Quincy District Court Clerk Arthur Tobin said police must be careful about what motivates their bail requests.
‘‘Bail cannot be used as punishment,’’ he said.
Tobin said each case needs to be analyzed separately rather than imposing a blanket increase on bail for certain crimes.
‘‘You have to use your sound judgment and your experience down through the years,’’ he said.
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