Police Commissioner Ray Kelly has issued an internal order to the New York City Police Department directing officers to stop making arresting for small quantities of marijuana, if the marijuana was never in public view. The directive, leaked to radio station WNYC, comes as the NYPD is under heat over alleged improper marijuana arrests.
In the order, Kelly states: "Questions have been raised about the processing of certain marijuana arrests. At issue is whether the circumstances under which uniformed members of the service recover small amounts of marijuana...from subjects in a public place support the charge of Criminal Possession of Marijuana in the Fifth Degree."
NYPD sources told WNYC it is the first time Kelly has internally addressed the issue of improper marijuana arrests to the entire department since a WNYC investigation in April found officers may have been recovering marijuana on people through illegal searches.
In New York, possession of small quantities of cannabis is only a criminal offense if it is displayed in public. Kelly's order reminds officers that if marijuana comes into public view at the direction of an officer—either when an officer pulls the drug out of a person's clothes, or a person is ordered by an officer to empty out his pockets—it is not considered a misdemeanor, and instead should only be treated as a violation, or a ticketable offense.
More than 85% of those arrested for marijuana in New York City are Blacks and Latinos, with arrests occurring in poor neighborhoods with the highest rates of stop-and-frisk incidents. National studies show young whites smoke cannabis more than Blacks and Latinos of the same age.
Kelly's directive arrives just as City Council members and state legislators are calling for an end to improper marijuana arrests. A bipartisan bill has been introduced in Albany that would decriminalize small amounts of marijuana possession in public view. Bill sponsors Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries and State Senator Mark Grisanti say they hope the proposed law will reduce incentives for police to improperly recover marijuana from people to make misdemeanor arrests. (WNYC, Sept. 23)
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NYC child custody cases over minor possession
An Aug. 18 New York Times report focuses on the hundreds of New Yorkers who have become ensnared in civil child neglect cases in recent years after being caught with small amounts of marijuana, or having simply admitted to using it. Especially highlighted is the case of Penelope Harris. Her 10-year-old son was placed in foster care for more than a week after police found a third of an ounce in a search of her Bronx apartment—not even enough to trigger a misdemeanor charge. But police reported her to child welfare anyway. Her 8-year-old niece, who was living with her as a foster child, was placed in another home and not returned by the foster care agency for more than a year. Ms. Harris, 31, had to weather a lengthy child neglect inquiry, though she had no criminal record and had never before been investigated by the child welfare authorities.