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athomson/FlickrIn a report released Tuesday, the Central Texas chapter of the ACLU confirmed many Austin citizens’ suspicions: APD could stand to better manage their resources. According to the report, the Austin Police Department jails nearly 10,000 people each year for misdemeanors that warrant tickets, not arrests.

By upholding the “Citation Option,” which has been a Texas state law since last September, police officers save valuable time and money needed for more consequential offenses. Currently, low-level misconduct such as driving without a license and swimming in public pools after hours lands even first-time offenders in jail.

Austin Public Safety Solutions claims that such drastic measures take at least three hours per arrest. A spokesman with the Austin Police Department said that writing a citation is no less time-consuming than transporting an offender to jail [KXAN], a statement likely to be refuted by the individuals in question.

Police Chief Art Avecedo plans to meet with representatives from Travis, Williamson, and Hays counties to discuss the reinforcement of the citation option. As police union officials negotiate their new five-year contract with the City of Austin, we can only hope that APD will deliver consequences consummate to the laws broken, or in many cases, chipped.