If “dine-and-dash” at an Aurora restaurant and get caught, you’ll go to jail for three days under a new law that passed first reading Monday at the Aurora City Council meeting.
The ordinance adds a minimum three-day jail sentence for people who try to walk out on dinner checks of $15 or more. It’s just the latest in a string of bills by council member Danielle Jurinsky, a small business owner, aimed at cracking down on thieves. The council also approved Monday the first reading of an ordinance establishing a minimum three-day jail sentence for thieves who steal items of $100 or more. The council also approved the first reading of an ordinance to require a 90-day minimum jail sentence for those who steal a second time and a 180-day minimum sentence for third time offenders.
The city has seen an uptick in thefts and dine-and-dash crimes in the Havana District in particular, according to police. Jurinsky wants to show criminals that if you steal in Aurora, you’re going to jail.
The issue of sending people to jail proved especially sensitive Monday. The conservative-led City Council has directed the city manager’s office to outsource the city’s award-winning public defender’s office if it makes fiscal sense. Many people said Monday that to send people to jail is expensive. City Attorney Pete Schulte said it costs about $135 per day when they have to reimburse counties for housing prisoners, which isn’t often.
Some call Zvonek a hypocrite
Some said council member Dustin Zvonek, who has pushed for privatizing the public defender’s office to save up to $1 million annually or more, isn’t truly being fiscally conservative by sending people to jail. Council member Alison Coombs said you can only take people to jail if you catch them committing the crime and most people figure they won’t get caught, so they're not deterred.
Earlier in the meeting, the conservative majority council voted to remove a resolution from the agenda sponsored by Coombs. The resolution would have repealed Zvonek’s resolution calling to seek bids to privatize the public defender’s office.
“I am the elephant in the room,” said Elizabeth Cadiz, chief public defender. She said such mandatory minimum jail sentences don’t deter shoplifters and dine-and-dashers. Other people also spoke against the ordinance, saying it punishes children who aren’t yet responsible enough not to steal. City staff made the point that only people 18 and over can be prosecuted, but one man argued people shouldn’t be held fully responsible for their actions until age 26.
Sundberg stole cassette tapes
Council member Stephanie Hancock said she didn’t understand the arguments against the bill. She said it makes good sense to lock up thieves. She said she stole something when she was five years old, and her mother punished her. She said she had to collect soda bottles to pay for what was stolen.
Council member Steve Sundberg said he got caught as a youngster stealing cassette tapes and went to jail. He said his father was terribly angry and scared some sense into him.