Evanston, Illinois, is where I’m from. Getting caught with less than 10 grams of weed will not be an arrestable offense and won’t go on your criminal record.
“It does not say that it’s okay to smoke pot, but it does say that they don’t have to live in fear of having a record follow them the rest of their life if they are caught,” [said] Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl.
WNYC reporter Ailsa Chang reports on the curious link between stop and frisks and marijuana arrests in New York City. It’s curious because small-scale possession of marijuana in New York State isn’t a crime (it is a non-arrestable ticketable “violation”). Nor do drugs that are “immediately apparent” based on “plain-feel” during a “Terry Frisk” (for weapons) give police justification to search (this is unique to New York State based on People v. Diaz).
I also did a little research based on the nifty map provided at the above link. There are 76 precincts in New York City. In 2010, 19 police precincts with the highest arrest rates for the lowest level marijuana-possession had 48 percent of the city’s murders and 39 percent of city’s robberies. But I’m not certain what percent of the NYC’s population lives in those 19 precincts. Anybody have data for population by precinct?
I’m briefly quoted in the story. And you can read what I’ve already written about stop and frisks by clicking on the “stop and frisk” tag below. This story is a bit different because it focuses on illegal searches, which are never OK. Police are given so much leeway within the law that I can’t help but think that cops who conduct illegal searches are, at best, lazy and stupid.
As one does, I was just reading the future in my Greek (née Turkish) coffee grounds, and I saw an interesting development.
[Cue swamy music] I see that the NYPD is going to start making fewer arrests for possession of marijuana this year starting right about now… I predict that in 2011, misdemeanor marijuana possession arrests in NYC are going to be down from 50,300 in 2010… and somewhat substantially… maybe a third fewer?… but now things are getting a little hazy.
How do I know? I don’t. That’s wall they call it a “prediction.” But I’m not just saying this because of the gypsy blood in me tells me so (even though I am 1/8th gypsy).
Remember to check back in a year or so. Cause I’d love to be the first to say, “I told you so!”
[Updatefrom the future: I was wrong.]
Last week I reported that marijuana arrests in New York City cost the city $75 million per year. In truth, that’s a pretty conservative estimate. One thing left out is the cost of actually testing the drugs people are arrested for. Now if somebody takes a quick plea, the drugs may never be tested. But with 50,000 marijuana arrests, there must be a lot of testing going on.
But how much does it cost to test drugs? Good question. I’ve always wondered. Well in Nassau County (Eastern Long Island), it’s going to cost them up to $167 per test to clean up their crime lab mess. That’s through a private company. I would hope and assume that the NYPD does it in-house for cheaper.
Still… 50,000 drug tests could cost most than $8,000,000. Just add that to the bill.
So reports the Daily Newsabout a new reportby the Drug Policy Alliance.
In response, Commissioner Kelly says if you don’t like, call your state senator. Of course, that’s a bit disingenuous because the law is already pretty clear: small-scale possession of marijuana in New York State is not an arrestable offense. The problem is how the NYPD enforces a violation they’ve been told to just write a ticket for. The law is pretty clear: it doesn’t want an arrest for small-scale personal weed possession. But the NYPD gets around this law by “asking” people to empty their pockets (that’s the legal way, at least). But… why?
I can answer that question, by the way: overtime, paperwork, compstat pressure, and the boss. Remember, in the police world, some arrests are better than others, but all arrests are good. Of course in the tax-paying world and even the crime-fighting world, all arrests are not necessarily good.
Kelly says the NYPD must be doing something right, because crime is still low. He’s right about that…. But that doesn’t mean it has anything to do with $75 million worth of marijuana arrests. One can make a stronger argument that marijuana arrests increased becausecrime went down. It became harder and harder to keep up those numbers for Compstat and meet certain “productivity goals.”
Sez a study reported in the BBC.
Patricia Marilyn Spottedcrow, who is serving 10 years in prison, has been taken away from her four young children and husband, and has ended her work in nursing homes because of $31 in marijuana sales. On Dec. 31, 2009, Spottedcrow and her mother, Delita Starr, 50, sold a “dime bag” of marijuana to a police informant at Starr’s home.
…
[The now retired judge said:] “By not putting the grandmother in prison, she is able to help take care of the children.”
“Marijuana farming in Calif. forest harms animals, pollutes water.” That’s not good. Of course the problem, once again, is that it’s illegal. We could make it legal.
Your Attention Please: Marijuana has now been found in all five boroughs. Luckily, in response to this plague, the NYPD has cracked down and arrested more people than ever for the crime of possessing marijuana. In 2010, 50,383 were arrested (86 percent of these are black or Latino). Noble drug warriors estimate that a continued focus on locking up low-level drug users will eradicate the evil weed by 2014. Currently, thanks to massive police presence, a entire 6-block area in East New York has been declared “marijuana free.”
The number of marijuana arrests last year was greater than the number of marijuana arrests during entire 19-year period from 1978 to 1996.
Of course that makes sense, since marijuana didn’t hit The Bronx until 1995. And the first “bud” wasn’t confirmed on Staten Island until 2002.
But seriously, I know marijuana is illegal. And I know that some low-level drug offenders are more serious criminals. If you’re arresting some violent drug dealer and all you can get him on is smoking a joint, fine. But most of these arrests are for nothing more than small-scale marijuana possession, a non-arrestable offense in New York State! Not only are many of these arrests wrong, they’re expensive, counter-productive, and only happen because officers face crazy pressure to produce numbers for Compstat.
Meanwhile, back in NYPD recruiting, they’re scratching their heads trying to figure out why it’s so hard to find young New York-raised black and Latino men with a clean record. You reap what you sow.
Stranger things have happened. But I can’t think of when.
I saw this the other day watching the 700 Club [not true].
“We’ve got to look at what we’re considering crime.” Robertson also comes out against mandatory sentences. “It’s costing us a fortune and it’s ruining young people.”
Preach on, Brother Robertson.
[Update: Robertson clarifies his perspective]
But seriously, it’s about time so-called compassionate Christians started being a little less filled with Old-Testament vengeance and little more filled with Jesus-like New-Testament forgiving.
Besides… it’s (almost) Christmas. Merry Christmas.
Like good New York City Jews [also not true] the wife and I will be eating Chinese food and perhaps seeing a movie.
But we’re going to cook the Chinese food.
We happen to have a haunch of hunted Wyoming antelope in the freezer [this part istrue, thanks to the Mighty Nimrod (Genesis 10: 8-9), Dan Baum]. And what says Christmas more than Chinese-style antelope? Any antelope-cooking suggestions are more than appreciated.