Cleveland County may be on its way to getting a public detoxification center for adults caught intoxicated in public.
Recently elected Cleveland County Sheriff Joe Lester has had a detoxification center on his mind for several years.
“It’s still in the talking stages, but we are hoping to have a place to take people as an alternative to jail,” Lester said.
Lester proposed the detox center with the goal of reducing the number of people in jail. The center would not be used to house juveniles.
“We want to have a diversion program for these people to get treatment so they won’t come back again,” Lester said.
The public detoxification center will be for people seeking treatment for both drugs and alcohol, Lester said.
Lester, former OUPD director and retired Tulsa police officer, has been working with OU staff in brainstorming ways to make the public detoxification center a reality.
The cost and location of the planned center have not been set yet, but details will be discussed soon, Lester said.
Payne County, home to Oklahoma State University, has a public detoxification center and officials working on the project will be visiting there to get ideas for the Norman project, Lester said.
Randy Dickerson, Stillwater Police Department captain, said the detox center is a good alternative to taking people to jail.
“It’s a positive option we have based on the level of cooperation people show,” Dickerson said. “Sometimes people just get into bad situations.”
The Stillwater detoxification center is for anyone who is publicly intoxicated. Taking someone there will not go on a permanent police record, Dickerson said.
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Bubba 3 years, 3 months ago
A Detox Center is great news. I'll never forget going to the Medieval Fair one year, and the police had a guy handcuffed, and sitting on a curb, FOR HOURS! This guy was inebriated, and would have benefitted from a detox center. Plus, he was a minority, and it made the white police officers look racist. I wonder if anyone brought him water? What were little kids at the fair thinking? Medieval torture?
-Bubba