The Austin American Statesman reported today that the Travis County Commissioners voted to enter into an agreement between Travis County and the City of Austin that will allow for a phlebotomist to be at the jail from Tuesday night through Sunday morning. These folks have reported that they anticipate the cost of this service to be approximately $60,243 per year. What they are not taking into account is the added cost of having those folks present to testify in the cases for which they drew blood. I was told that they plan to contract with a "phlebotomy service", rather than hire a single phlebotomist. The logical nightmare will be when the actual person that took the blood no longer works at the contracted service. Further, who do they think is going to pay for their time.
The article states that the phlebotomist(s) will work from 9:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. Well, we shall see how they feel about waking up to be in court at 9:00 a.m. Further, who is going to pay for the blood to be tested. Chief Acevedo has been pushing for a full time no refusal policy, and I think this is just one step towards his goal. As I have stated in past posts, this isn't Williamson County. Folks, in general, are against people being held down and stabbed with a needle. Sooner or later, Acevedo will have to realize that. Either that, or maybe another city will consider him for their Chief, since Dallas apparently didn't want him.
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