What happens when you get an MIP?
Nov 14, 2009, 10:41 AM
By LISA HANDKE
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WARRENSBURG, Mo.—You’ve read about it in police reports, you’ve seen it on Pine Street, and chances are, you’ve heard about a friend or acquaintance getting one. It’s an MIP, a minor in possession of alcohol offense.
In Missouri, minors caught with alcohol are arrested. But what happens after the offenders are taken downtown? What kinds of repercussions do they face? Which city officials are involved in the ensuing legal process, and what roles do they play? People who have never been arrested may even wonder about the arrest process in general.
MIP arrests generally originate with noise complaints from house parties or law enforcement coverage downtown, said officer John Harrington, alcohol compliance coordinator for the Warrensburg police department.
Anyone under the age of 21 caught with alcohol in his or her possession is arrested on the spot. This includes minors who have obviously consumed alcohol, Harrington said, thanks to the “minor in possession by consumption” law that took effect in 2005.
In those circumstances, if a minor appears to have consumed alcohol, he or she is given a breathalyzer or other alcohol detection test, and if alcohol is present in his or her system, he or she is arrested for MIP, with his or her actual body as the container.
Taken to jail
MIP offenders are cuffed and transported to the police station, where their arrest is documented, their backgrounds checked and their fingerprints are taken. They are also given a court date.
If an MIP offender signs his citation and agrees to show up on his court date, he is free to go. If the offender doesn’t sign, Harrington said, he must pay a bond.
On their court dates, MIP offenders can plead guilty or not guilty to the charge. The vast majority plead guilty, since there is typically hard evidence that the minor has consumed alcohol or was seen with alcohol in his possession.
Those who plead guilty are given a fine to pay, an amount that is recommended by the city prosecutor and ruled upon by the judge. Fine amounts vary, according to the circumstances of the offense and whether it was a repeat offense.
The maximum fine would be $500, which is the maximum fine for all offenses in the Warrensburg Municipal Court, court administrator Brenda Davis said.
Only one pled not guilty
In some cases, offenders may be put on city probation or have other added punishments, Harrington said. If the offender is facing multiple charges, such as open container or driving while intoxicated, the repercussions will, of course, be greater.
On the very rare occasion an offender pleads not guilty, he or she is tried and his or her case is examined. The arresting officers are subpoenaed to testify in court and it must be proven that there was alcohol in the offender’s possession. An MIP offender has only pled not guilty once in the past four years, Davis said.
Once fines are paid and any other court-mandated punishments are served, the MIP process is over, although the arrest will be on a person’s permanent record.
“I’ve had parents call me and say that I’m ruining their college kids’ careers for arresting them [especially since the possession by consumption law], but we’re zero-tolerance,” Harrington said. “We see MIPs, and we arrest them.”
An undercover officer caught Brianna Corso outside of Fitzgerald Residence Hall one night in early September as she went outside to talk to a friend in the parking lot, a mixed drink in her hand.
Holding cell, fingerprints
Corso was cuffed and taken to the Public Safety building, where she and two other people who had been arrested alternated between the waiting room and the holding cell, as their fingerprints were taken and the paperwork for their arrests was taken care of.
Besides initial tension with the arresting officer, Corso said the officers at Public Safety were nice and answered the many questions she had about the legal process.
Because Corso faced other charges with her MIP, she hired a lawyer to represent her in court.
“It wasn’t too complicated, I just had no clue what I was doing; it was my first time ever going to court,” Corso said. “There were also a lot of other cases there, including two other offenders in handcuffs, so I had to take it all in.”
Corso found that it was a fairly quick and easy process. “I was there about a total of 20 minutes, from beginning to end,” she said.
Got probation
Corso was placed on two years’ probation, forced to serve 40 hours of community service and had to take a drug and alcohol class at the Community Center. Her court costs were $125. Because of the multiple charges and her lawyer fees, the whole thing cost her about $675. Adding to her frustration was her arrest, which came just a month and a half before she turned 21.
For another MIP offender, also arrested in September, the repercussions were less severe. This offender, who did not want to be identified, was arrested at the Fraternity Complex on an MIP charge only. She too was taken to the Public Safety Building and she also hired a lawyer, who stood before the judge with her.
“They were talking their court lingo,” she said. “I didn’t understand everything. But it all seemed really casual; there were other people there in shorts and T-shirts.”
This offender was placed on probation, and she had to take the alcohol class too. Her total costs for the class, court and lawyer fees, totaled $250.
That goes to show that although most MIP offenses are about the same, they’re all a little different.
Officer Harrington reported that the number of MIP violations in Warrensburg has dramatically decreased since Pine Street establishments were made 21 and older two years ago.
Law has made difference
“It’s made a major difference,” Harrington said. “I’ve worked Pine Street for many years, and before, I would make over 150 MIP arrests per year. I’ve arrested about four per year the past two years.”
Warrensburg has even won awards for the Pine Street turnaround. The Warrensburg Area Partners in Prevention group was presented with the regional Tempe Humphrey Memorial Award in April for promoting the responsible sale, service and consumption of alcohol.
Harrington won a Leadership Challenge award from the City of Warrensburg in September 2008 for his work in enforcing the alcohol ordinances on Pine Street. Harrington said the Missouri supervisor of alcohol control has been looking at Warrensburg as a “model town” in alcohol control.
