The County Jail Strike Force met again last night and really pushed the whole “alternatives to incarceration” concept to a new level. Until now, that particular part of the agenda seemed like something that would only get talked about, while the location seemed to be the real issue. But according to the L-T …

• A special jail committee is proposing that any construction be based on the incarcerated population growing only as fast as Eau Claire County's general populace.
• By approving a jail inmate growth rate of just 1 percent per year, the committee hopes it will pressure county officials and the justice system to use more alternatives to incarceration. That 1 percent growth rate is less than prior projections made by consultants and the trend indicated by recent, actual jail numbers.

Possessing somewhere between none and zero expertise in law enforcement strategy, I have no idea if the local justice system will actually peruse alternatives to jailing people because they have a less-than-huge jail, but I have doubts. Wouldn’t they already be trying to do that?