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* Mick Dumke…
Last summer the Chicago City Council passed a law that allowed police to issue tickets instead of booking and locking up marijuana possessors. Supporters said it would reduce costs and keep low-level users out of the criminal justice system. “This is just a no-brainer,” Alderman Danny Solis, the chief sponsor, said at the time.
But the law hasn’t worked the way Solis hoped. Police have concluded that the ticketing process is a pain in the butt and doesn’t send a strong enough message in tough neighborhoods. So they rarely use it, issuing just 17 citations a week citywide.
Meanwhile, the arrests keep coming. In the ten months since the law was passed, police have made more than 12,000 arrests for misdemeanor possession, 76 percent of them in black wards, according to police data.
That’s an average of 281 arrests a week, or more than 40 a day. They’ve consumed 97,000 police hours and at least $30.2 million in court costs.
Police officials say they enforce the laws to protect public safety. Solis says he’d like some more answers. He promises to hold a hearing in the coming weeks to revisit the issue with police superintendent Garry McCarthy.
posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Jun 7, 13 @ 11:54 am
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Previous Post: Question of the day
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Police enforce to the toughest standard. We often talk here about plea deals or charges being reduced after an arrest. The entire system is setup to encourage charging people with MORE crimes and the highest level… “Hey, it can always be reduced or be used as leverage”
That is part of the problem. RARELY will the police charge a person with the least possible they can, and of course felony arrests, people in cuffs, bodies brought in look “good” for individual cops.
Comment by RonOglesby Friday, Jun 7, 13 @ 11:59 am
The police should do what they are told. This sounds like an executive failure to me. And if the ticketing process is overly cumbersome, it should be revised. Hard to believe it could be more cumbersome than hauling somebody off to the station, though. There must be other factors operating.
In any case, government policy should not be made in the street. McCarthy should take action here.
Comment by cassandra Friday, Jun 7, 13 @ 12:05 pm
here’s the problem….people are on the street. want to smoke weed? do it inside. ticket or no ticket option. the police are interested in getting more than just pot smokers off the street. if they just arrest on dope, that ’s one thing. most often there are more reasons to arrest. but get off the street people. you get lumped in with all the gangbangers and felons. just take it inside.
Comment by Amalia Friday, Jun 7, 13 @ 12:11 pm
its nice to know that with all the problems with violence in some lower income neighborhoods, the police are focusing on misdemeanor possesion instead of, oh I dont know….reducing violence.
Comment by Ghost Friday, Jun 7, 13 @ 12:19 pm
Amalia,
this misdemeanor is simple possession. Not smoking on the street. You get a Terry stop and the cop finds a bit of weed they can just write a ticket. BUT if they dont like the look of the guy they can also arrest. What they are reporting is that in way more cases than not, the cops are not writing the ticket and instead breaking out the cuffs.
Comment by RonOglesby Friday, Jun 7, 13 @ 12:42 pm
@joey
lots of valid points, but…
—
It isn’t a profession that draws intelligent people.
—
sounds like the type of person that would say only those with no options and no education would join the military… Which of course hasn’t been true for decades
Cops are a slice of the population. You have very smart ones and not so smart. But they are trained to charge with the highest possible charge and not the least.
Comment by RonOglesby Friday, Jun 7, 13 @ 12:52 pm
Hardly the “broken windows” theory of policing, is it?
By the way, Ald. Solis claimed this would generate $7 million in annual revenue.
According to a Huffington Post story from earlier this year, “Once the 2012 citation figures are extrapolated, the city is only on track to take in about 3 percent of Solis’ $7 million figure in the law’s first year.”
Ald. Solis may no longer be the most credible source on this issue. Just a little off there with his promise or “estimate” of new revenue.
Comment by Formerly Known As... Friday, Jun 7, 13 @ 12:54 pm
RonO — I’m with you @ 12:52!
Comment by Out Here In The Middle Friday, Jun 7, 13 @ 12:57 pm
New study. Chicago is #1 in another inglorious category:
“Marijuana is the drug most often linked to crime in the United States…
Researchers found that marijuana was the most popular drug used by men who’d been arrested in all the cities, ranging from a low of 37 percent in Atlanta to a high of 58 percent in Chicago.
Chicago also had the highest overall positive test results, with 86 percent of the men found to have at least one drug in their bloodstreams.”
5-23-13: www.miamiherald.com/2013/05/23/3413312/marijuana-is-drug-most-often-linked.html
Comment by Formerly Known As... Friday, Jun 7, 13 @ 1:00 pm
I wonder is the arrest a tool the police are using to further investigate the individual. If they find you with pot in your vehicle or hanging out your pocket and write you a ticket you drive off. Could it be that by arresting you they can process you, check for gang affiliation, Weapons, Warrants, and fingerprint you. I think a lot of us are envisioning the kid who smokes a little pot and is harmless however i doubt everyone they are running in fits that mold. After all the Officer can always “miss” the weed. When i was a kid they “missed” my beer quite a few times.
Comment by Mason born Friday, Jun 7, 13 @ 1:01 pm
The task of police enforce all laws to the toughest standard. If there is some reason that a person should not be held to the toughest standard that should be done in the court system. The job of the police is to enforce and the job of the courts is to interpret.
Comment by Small Town Taxpayer Friday, Jun 7, 13 @ 1:02 pm
@Small Town
Then why have politicians that create laws that allow for no arrest and a ticket then? are you saying the police should ignore the meaning/intended use of a law and instead always seek to punish to the greatest extent?
Comment by RonOglesby Friday, Jun 7, 13 @ 1:04 pm
I’m with RO on this one, Joey. Your gratuitous rant on the intelligence level of law enforcement is uncalled for and inaccurate.
We are told that one issue that is important to the community are the basic things - minor crimes that are ignored lead to escalation. Hence the creation of community policing programs. If the cops view the offender as a potential problem for the community, they may be more likely to hang a heavier charge on him.
Comment by dupage dan Friday, Jun 7, 13 @ 1:04 pm
I don’t think giving this option to the police is good policy. I support fewer arrests for drugs and think the policy should identify when someone is arrested and when someone is ticketed. This is kind of like giving the cops an option of arrest or ticket when someone’s blood alcohol level is more than .08 (maybe it’s not the best analogy, but its close).
It would be best to have an across the board policy that everyone understands and doesn’t give that much discretionary power over people’s lives. Or better yet, let’s just make all drugs under a certain amount a ticket and allow our resources to go after the sellers, traffickers and pimps out there and stop saddling certain people with drug arrest records.
Comment by Ahoy! Friday, Jun 7, 13 @ 1:08 pm
Cassandra also makes a good point, if ticketing is more of a bureaucratic burden than arresting people, we have a big problem. Although I will also admit that public servants shouldn’t be doing the easiest thing rather than the right thing, but we should acknowledge reality and look into streamlining the process.
Comment by Ahoy! Friday, Jun 7, 13 @ 1:10 pm
—
Cassandra also makes a good point, if ticketing is more of a bureaucratic burden than arresting people, we have a big problem.
—
+1 or if it doesnt really do anything remove the law. If not you get the rich white kid caught on the gold coast with a joint getting a ticket and a poor black kid on the west side getting cuffed for the same exact crime.
you have to strive for equality under the law.
Comment by RonOglesby Friday, Jun 7, 13 @ 1:14 pm
It’s crazy. Across races, marijuana is about the same. But you’re way more likely to get arrested for it if you’re poor or black.
What’s the point?
Comment by wordslinger Friday, Jun 7, 13 @ 1:33 pm
==The task of police enforce all laws to the toughest standard==
A lot of police would disagree with you on that. Police officers have the ability to use common sense and discretion and they do it a lot. Besides, a ticket is a legal option. Use it.
Comment by Demoralized Friday, Jun 7, 13 @ 1:34 pm
@ RonO -
“if they dont like the look of the guy they can also arrest. ”
Oh, well now, there’s an objective standard, one clearly not open to abuse.
Comment by Joan P. Friday, Jun 7, 13 @ 2:00 pm
“They’ve consumed 97,000 police hours” Alot more overtime there that would not exist with a ticket. And don’t tell me cops don’t like overtime and bigger paychecks. If you want people to change behavior, make what they are doing now very difficult and the desired behavior easy. If OT is the primary factor you will have to curtail that. Good luck with the Police Union.
Comment by Bobbye Friday, Jun 7, 13 @ 2:02 pm
Formerly, along those lines (with credit to the intertubes, not sure of original author)….
SCIENCE: BREAD IS DANGEROUS
1. More than 98 percent of convicted felons are bread users.
2. Fully HALF of all children who grow up in bread-consuming households score below average on standardized tests.
3. In the 18th century, when virtually all bread was baked in the home, the average life expectancy was less than 50 years; infant mortality rates were unacceptably high; many women died in childbirth; and diseases such as typhoid, yellow fever, and influenza ravaged whole nations.
4. More than 90 percent of violent crimes are committed within 24 hours of eating bread.
5. Bread has been proven to be addictive. Subjects deprived of bread and given only water to eat, begged for bread after as little as two days.6. Bread is often a “gateway” food item, leading the user to “harder” items such as butter, jelly, peanut butter, and even cream cheese.
7. Bread has been proven to absorb water. Since the human body is more than 90 percent water, it follows that eating bread could lead to your body being taken over by this absorptive food product, turning you into a soggy, gooey, bread-pudding person.
8. Newborn babies can choke on bread.
9. Bread is baked at temperatures as high as 450 degrees Fahrenheit! That kind of heat can kill an adult in less than two minutes.
10. Most American bread eaters are utterly unable to distinguish between significant scientific fact and meaningless statistical babbling.
Comment by Ghost Friday, Jun 7, 13 @ 2:03 pm
@Joan
I think you missed my point throughout this discussion. “not liking the look of a person” really means that you pick them up on weed (arrest) because they suspect something else is up. They have no ID, yet you think this guy is someone you know and he has a warrant but is giving you a fake name.
I think more tickets should issued if you see my comments.
Comment by RonOglesby Friday, Jun 7, 13 @ 2:09 pm
There are a couple of possible reasons. First, some of the tactical units get credit for arrests and not tickets. Second, the suspects arrested may be those that the cops want to investigate further or take of the streets for a while. Also, no secret that certain districts may get a different type of police mentality and response based on the crime rate. For the street cop it is easier to ignore a small possession or write the ticket.
Comment by Samurai Friday, Jun 7, 13 @ 2:23 pm
I’m not sure exactly where this comment fits since the range of thoughts cover a lot issues. However, I do know there are very intelligent individuals who participate here. That being said, the marijuana on the streets today, is not the marijuana of the 60’s through 80’s.
Comment by Republicrat Friday, Jun 7, 13 @ 3:03 pm
The police need to be told they have to ticket for pot, there’s no alternative.
Comment by Chavez-respecting Obamist Friday, Jun 7, 13 @ 3:38 pm
More bread-related activity, posted at 3:25 pm today: www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/suburbs/highland_park_deerfield/chi-highland-park-death-arrests-20130607,0,6402063.story
“The three people charged in the slaying of 20-year-old Colin Nutter of Highland Park had arranged to buy marijuana from him, but one of the would-be buyers shot him in the back of the head while they sat in Nutter’s car, Lake County State’s Attorney Mike Nerheim said this morning.”
Comment by Formerly Known As... Friday, Jun 7, 13 @ 3:49 pm
These statistics just go to show that in Chicago still, in large part at least, the POLICE determine what the ACtual “Law” is in terms of how THEY decide to apply it. Here, the results speak for themselves–and should be inquired into by the City Council and Mayor. Otherwise, what was the point?! They do this kind of thing in Washington, D.C. all the time on a National scale, i.e. follow up with how some law is or ISN’T being administered how it was intended, and why, and so it should most definitely be questioned on a Local level in Chicago as well…!
Comment by Just The Way It Is One Friday, Jun 7, 13 @ 4:25 pm