If your DUI, or your boating DUI, happened in Sarasota, Manatee, or DeSoto County, your case sits in the Twelfth Judicial Circuit, and the Twelfth runs the most structured diversion program in the region. It is called DETER, and I just published a free plain-English guide to it: Safir Guide No. 22, The DETER Program. Here are three things from it.
Three things from the guide
1. Four levels, and refusals pay a premium
DETER sorts cases into four levels, and it is the only program in the region with a refusal level of its own. Level 4, the refusal level, carries the most pre-plea work-offender days. If you declined the breath test, the program will take you, but it will work you harder on the way through, and whether that premium is worth paying versus testing the State’s proof is a question to answer before enrolling, not after.
2. The road is predictable, and so is the price
The pre-plea phase runs roughly sixty to ninety days with a speedy-trial waiver: in-person DUI school, treatment, the MADD program, and the work days for your level. The plea adds a $500 fine, with public service hours able to offset half, plus costs, a ten day immobilization, and monitoring that runs three to six months by level. Full credit is given for work completed early, so diligence literally shortens the sentence.
3. It covers the water too
DETER expressly covers boating under the influence, which matters in a circuit with this much coastline. An eligible first BUI runs through the same framework toward the same destination: reckless driving with a withhold, a record that can often be sealed, and no FR-44 insurance spiral.
Get the whole guide, free
The full guide covers eligibility, all four levels, the complete cost picture, how DETER compares to the neighboring circuits, and how to decide whether the program or the fight is your better road. It is free, and one email unlocks the entire Safir Guides library: get The DETER Program guide here. The web version lives in the DETER section.
And if the arrest is fresh, skip the reading and get in touch, because the ten day license clock is already running. Every case is different, and no outcome is ever promised. You’re better Safir than sorry.
