NYC to Issue Tickets for Small Amounts of Pot in Lieu of Arrest
Henry GoldmanNew York Mayor Bill de Blasio and Police Commissioner Bill Bratton directed officers to stop arresting people carrying small amounts of marijuana and to begin issuing ticket-like summonses instead.
Effective Nov. 19, anyone found with 25 grams (0.88 ounce) or less of the drug will get a summons requiring a court appearance. If found guilty, a violator will face a $100 fine for the first offense and $200 for a second, said Bratton, who joined de Blasio for a news briefing at the department’s lower Manhattan headquarters today.
“This is an example of another important step both for keeping the people of New York City safe and building a closer relationship between police and the community,” de Blasio said.
The 53-year-old Democrat campaigned last year vowing to curtail stop-and-frisk practices, in which almost 700,000 persons, mostly young minority men, were detained and questioned on the street. Tens of thousands of those actions led to arrests for marijuana possession, which de Blasio also criticized before assuming office Jan. 1.
De Blasio’s pledge didn’t match law enforcement’s actions, according to a report last month by the Drug Policy Alliance, an advocacy group seeking reduced penalties for the drug. The group said arrests increased from March through August to 15,324, compared with 14,847 for the comparable period in 2013.
The group said that 86 percent of those marijuana arrests involved blacks and Latinos, compared with 10 percent for whites.
Bratton Counters
Bratton today countered those statistics with some of his own, which showed 24,081 arrests in 2014 as of today, a 3 percent decrease compared with the same period in 2013.
The new approach would make it easier to manage manpower in the 35,000-officer police department, Bratton said. It would reduce unnecessary arrests for pot possession and keep more officers on the street, not preoccupied with booking a minor offender at precinct headquarters, the commissioner said.
A summons, unlike a criminal arrest, doesn't become part of the public record and doesn't involve fingerprinting or a mug shot, Bratton said. Failure to appear in court to answer the summons could result in an arrest warrant, he said.
Under the policy, people caught with more than 25 grams of marijuana, or who are burning or smoking it in public, would be subject to arrest, Bratton said.
The commissioner said he remained opposed to legalization of the drug, saying there isn’t enough information about what impact it would have on people’s behavior and its risks to motorists.
Still Illegal
“As for those who want to avoid summonses, don’t do it, it’s that simple,” Bratton said. “Don’t smoke it. Don’t carry it. Don’t use it. It’s still against the law. I’m not giving out get-out-of-jail for free cards.”
The mayor and police commissioner announced the new policy following complaints from five city council members who sent an Oct. 31 letter to de Blasio in which they expressed “deep concern with the large number of low-level marijuana possession arrests” under the mayor’s leadership.
“We are troubled not just by the overall number of arrests, but also by the racial disparities reflected in the arrests,” the council members wrote.
Today, the five council members issued a statement thanking the mayor for the new policy, saying it would improve relations between police and minority communities and would be “a significant step towards ensuring fewer New Yorkers face the consequences that arrest records bring.”