Sobering center to ease load on hospitals, jails

County Council approves $310,000 to serve Long Branch, Takoma Park, Langley Park areas

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Money has been approved for a sobering center in Silver Spring, where inebriated people can be taken, evaluated and provided resources to deal with their alcohol problems instead of being taken to hospitals or jail.

Most often, intoxicated people are taken to emergency rooms because officers are not allowed to jail people who are highly intoxicated, said Capt. J. Mitchell Cunningham, commander of Montgomery County Police’s Third District, which includes portions of Silver Spring.

The center would provide police an alternative and would relieve the burden on hospitals as well as holding cells. The Montgomery County Council approved $310,000 toward the start-up of the center. Officials have not decided on an exact location, but the center is expected to be open by January.

The center will be located in the Long Branch, Takoma Park and Langley Park area, said Dudley Warner, senior administrator for behavioral health and crisis services in the county Department of Health and Human Services.

A specific location has not been determined; however, officials are looking to put the program where there may already be available beds.

The center is more of an initiative, he said, where HHS employees will go out into the community with police and take inebriated people to an emergency room to determine they don’t have any medical issues, then take them to a bed to sober up instead of keeping them in the emergency room.

‘‘They typically stay there for a long period of time,” Warner said.

When the people are sober, employees will encourage them to go to a detoxification program. If they’re not willing to go, the employees will follow up with them later and suggest ways to get help, with the hope that they’ll comply.

Community and business leaders in Long Branch and Takoma Park have been calling for a sobering center for some time to help combat the problem of public drunkenness. From those neighborhoods, intoxicated people are often taken to Washington Adventist Hospital, creating a crunch for beds and services. Cunningham said police have been in talks with the hospital.

In Long Branch, public drunkenness has been an ongoing problem, said longtime resident Jim Johnson. Some business owners say it can drive away customers.

‘‘It’s going to be a problem ‘til they address it. You definitely notice it in the business district,” he said. Some intoxicated people panhandle, others curse and are belligerent to pedestrians and others just sit quietly, he said.

A sobering center would improve the situation, Johnson said. A center operated by Washington Adventist Hospital had been in the neighborhood until 1992.

Community leaders in Long Branch have advocated for a center for about four years, said resident Cynthia Rubenstein. Should the new center be built in that neighborhood, it would serve the community well.

‘‘We’ve had a chronic issue for years,” she said, adding that when police take intoxicated people — often ‘‘regulars” — to emergency rooms, they have to stay with them until they’re sober, keeping officers away from patrol.

Additionally, she said, inebriated people can pose a danger to themselves and others. For instance, they can walk in front of cars.

‘‘These folks are suffering and so is the community,” she said.