I hope you are all staying safe. I wanted to alert those of you who are using Ignition Interlock Devices about some important information.
Travis County courts issued a directive to all Ignition Interlock Device (“IID”) vendors that IID recalibration may be rescheduled for 45 days after your existing appointment. This was done to encourage social distancing. The directive went into effect April 15, 2020 and applies to all Travis County Pretrial Services and Adult Probation clients who have recalibration appointments between April 15 to May 8, 2020. This should prevent lockouts for failure to recalibrate.
The extension will not be done automatically, and you will need to contact your IID vendor and request the 45 day extension. Please note, I called SmartStart today to check on the procedures and the SmartStart representative I spoke with had not yet been made aware of the new Order so my suggestion is to wait a few days to call.
Alcolock, SmartStart, and Intoxalock are 3 vendors that CAN change the calibration dates remotely. You will need to contact your vendor by phone to get a new date 45 days down the road and then notify your supervision officer (whether pretrial or probation) of the new date.
Draeger, Lifesaver of Texas, and Guardian Interlock are 3 providers that CANNOT change the calibration dates remotely. You may get a longer calibration time of 45 days between now and May 8 but you will have to go in person and notify your supervision officer of any appointment date.
A copy of the letter from Travis County Pretrial Services is attached.
As always, call me if you have any questions or difficulties.
Austin Criminal Defense lawyer
David Frank has been an Austin Criminal Defense lawyer since 1993. He is Board Certified in Criminal Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. An attorney who is Board Certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization in Criminal Law must have experience in the preparation and trial of serious criminal matters. The attorney must also have extensive knowledge of state and federal constitutional law, evidence, procedure and penal laws involved in the trial of these matters.
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