As a part of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s relaxed policy on marijuana enforcement, set to take effect next month, the New York Police Department won’t arrest those caught smoking in public who have an open summons warrant and will instead take the offender to court to resolve the outstanding ticket, a police official said.
When the new policy directing officers to issue criminal summonses to those caught smoking in public as opposed to arresting offenders was announced in June, city officials laid out several exceptions. Among them was that those who hadn’t resolved a previous summons by paying a fine of about $100 in court would still be arrested if caught smoking in public.
“You don’t address your summons, it can lead to a warrant, a warrant can lead to an arrest,” Mr. de Blasio, a Democrat, said at the time.
But on Friday the police official said that many of those offenders would instead be issued another summons and transported to court in a patrol car.
If court isn’t in session, the offender would be taken into custody until court opens, the police official said. Police officers will still have discretion in making an arrest: If the officer believes the smoking posed a public-safety risk, if the offender previously committed a serious crime “or they’re acting in a manner that is suspicious, they’re still getting locked up,” the police official said.
The new marijuana policy details come weeks after NYPD officials said they no longer would arrest subway fare evaders with open summonses who are stopped by authorities. Instead, officers would bring those offenders to court to resolve their cases.
The city has taken steps in recent years to move away from arresting people for low-level crimes and instead issue summonses. Officials also have pressed offenders to resolve their summons by sending them reminders by text message and phone calls.
The number of people arrested for marijuana offenses declined—from 53,529 in 2010 to 19,139 in 2017, according to the NYPD. Meanwhile, the number of summonses issued for the offense increased from more than 12,000 in 2013 to more than 20,500 in 2017, state court data showed.
A Wall Street Journal analysis of state court data showed that the percentage of summonses issued for a marijuana offense that resulted in an open arrest warrant increased from 33.6% in 2013 to 38% in 2017.
NYPD and City Hall officials said on Friday that the new policy aims to reduce arrests of people who haven’t committed serious crimes.
“We are intensely focused on preventing criminal summonses from leading to warrants,” Patrick Gallahue, said a spokesman for the mayor’s office of criminal justice, adding that the city has worked with the courts to clear about 644,000 warrants.
NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill formed a 30-day working group in May to examine the impact that the department’s marijuana enforcement had on individuals in the wake of criticism about city statistics that show 87% of people arrested in 2017 for smoking marijuana were black or Hispanic, despite studies that indicate all races smoke marijuana at generally the same rate.
The head of a police union and politicians were surprised on Friday when told that most of those caught smoking marijuana who have open warrants for outstanding summonses wouldn’t be arrested.
“We’re basically becoming a non-enforcement agency,” said Ed Mullins, president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association. “It is not up to the police to make sure people pay their fines.”
Highs and Lows
In 2014, Mayor Bill de Blasio directed officers to issue summonses to people possessing 25 grams or less of marijuana. Those caught smoking in public would still be arrested. The mayor’s new policy of issuing summonses to most people caught smoking marijuana will begin on Sept. 1.
Source: New York Police Department
City Council member Rory Lancman said the policy doesn’t address what he noted is the core issue of the city’s marijuana enforcement: That policing the offense overwhelmingly affects people of color. Blacks and Hispanics accounted for 66.6% of the those who received a summons for a marijuana offense in 2017, according to NYPD data.
“Giving somebody a lift to the court in the back of a police car is not my idea of reducing people’s exposure to the criminal justice system. And a scheme that limits enforcement to people with prior exposure to the criminal-justice system virtually guarantees that that scheme will focus even more on people of color,” said Mr. Lancman, a Democrat.
Phil Walzak, NYPD deputy commissioner of public information, didn’t address Mr. Mullins comments but repeated that the policy is projected to cut current annual arrests by 10,000.
“The NYPD understands it is not productive to arrest people who have no prior criminal history,” Mr. Walzak said. “Doing so hampers efforts to build trust and strengthen relationships with the people we serve, and it does not further the NYPD’s mission of ridding our streets of those responsible for violence and disorder.”
Jacqueline Caruana, senior staff attorney at the Brooklyn Defender Services, said she has had many clients who were arrested after failing to resolve a warrant because they couldn’t afford to pay the fine and confusion about where to settle the ticket.
Earlier this month, she said she represented a 19-year-old who was arrested in his Brooklyn apartment building after not resolving a summons issued to him for possessing marijuana in the Bronx. He was arrested on a Friday night and had to spend the night in Central Booking.
When he appeared before a judge, the case was dismissed. District attorneys in Manhattan and Brooklyn recently have declined to prosecute a majority of marijuana cases, citing the racial disparities.
“It would seem to me to be a waste of resources and a waste of everyone’s time,” Ms. Caruana said.
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