Chap. 0274 An Act requiring the release of certain persons arrested for drunkenness.

Be it enacted, etc., as follows:

Section forty-five of chapter two hundred and seventy-two of the General Laws, as appearing in the Tercentenary Edition, is hereby amended by striking out, in the eleventh, thirty-fourth and thirty-sixth lines, the word "may" and inserting in place thereof, in each instance, the word: - shall, - so as to read as follows: - Section 45. Whoever arrests a person for drunkenness shall make a complaint against him therefor at the next session of the court or of the trial justice having jurisdiction of the case; and such court or trial justice may proceed to hear and to dispose of the same according to due course of law; and may, if the accused has been released under this section, order the issuance of a warrant for the arrest, or a summons for the appearance, of the accused for trial, or if the court is satisfied by the report of its probation officer, or otherwise, or if the trial justice is satisfied upon inquiry that the accused has not four times before been arrested for drunkenness within a year, and that his written statement hereinafter mentioned is true, the court or trial justice shall thereupon direct that the accused, if still in custody, be released without arraignment; and if not in custody, that further proceedings in the case be suspended or that the complaint be dismissed.

A person so arrested may, after he has recovered from his intoxication, make a written statement, addressed to the court or trial justice having jurisdiction of his offence, giving his name and address, setting forth what persons, if any, are dependent upcn him for support, his place of employment, if any, and whether he has been arrested for drunkenness within the twelve months next preceding, and requesting to be released from custody; and may deliver said statement to the officer in charge of the place in which he is confined, who shall endorse thereon the name of the arresting officer, and if the arrest is made within the jurisdiction

of a trial justice, his opinion of the probable truth of said statement for the use of such trial justice, and shall transmit the same to such trial justice; and if the arrest is made within the jurisdiction of a court having a probation officer, the officer in charge of the place in which he is confined shall transmit such statement to said probation officer. Said probation officer, or his assistants, shall forthwith inquire into the truth thereof and shall investigate the record of said person as to previous similar offences, and, for the use of the court having jurisdiction of the case, shall endorse on such statement, with his signature, the result of his investigation. The officer for the time being in charge of the place of custody in a town where no probation officer resides forthwith shall release, and elsewhere the probation officer or assistant probation officer of the court having jurisdiction of the offence shall direct the officer in charge of the place of custody forthwith to release, and such officer so in charge shall thereupon release, such arrested person pursuant to his request; provided, that the officer so releasing or directing the release believes that the person arrested has given his true name and address, that he will appear upon a summons, and that he has not four times before been arrested for drunkenness within the preceding twelve months.

Approved May 8, 1946.