Pubdate: Mon, 04 Jun 2012
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2012 The New York Times Company
Contact: http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/lettertoeditor.html
Website: http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author: Thomas Kaplan

CUOMO SEEKS CUT IN FRISK ARRESTS

Wading into the debate over stop-and-frisk police tactics, Gov. 
Andrew M. Cuomo plans to ask legislators on Monday for a change in 
New York State law that would drastically reduce the number of people 
who could be arrested for marijuana possession as a result of police stops.

The governor will call for the decriminalization of possession of 
small amounts of marijuana in public view, administration officials 
said. Advocates of such a change say the offense has ensnared tens of 
thousands of young black and Latino men who are stopped by the New 
York City police for other reasons but after being instructed to 
empty their pockets, find themselves charged with a crime.

Reducing the impact of the Bloomberg administration's stop-and-frisk 
policy has been a top priority of lawmakers from minority 
neighborhoods, who have urged Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, to pay more 
attention to the needs of their communities. The lawmakers argue that 
young men found with small amounts of marijuana are being needlessly 
funneled into the criminal justice system and have difficulty finding 
jobs as a result.

By deciding to get involved in the biggest law enforcement issue 
roiling New York City, Mr. Cuomo is again inserting himself into the 
affairs of the city in a way that has been welcomed by some and 
resented by others. He previously brokered the resolution of a 
dispute over legalizing street hails of livery cabs, and he ordered 
the city to stop requiring that food stamp applicants be fingerprinted.

In this case, the governor would be acting against the wishes of 
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, and in spite of a September directive 
from the police commissioner, Raymond W. Kelly, who instructed 
officers not to arrest people who take small amounts of marijuana out 
of their pockets or bags after being stopped by the police.

The Drug Policy Alliance, an advocacy group critical of the Police 
Department's marijuana arrest policies, found that only a modest 
decline in the arrests followed Mr. Kelly's memorandum.

Though the governor's legislation does not address the high number of 
stops by the police, it would take aim at what many black and 
Hispanic lawmakers as well as advocacy groups say has been one of the 
most damaging results of the aggressive police tactics: arrest 
records for young people who have small amounts of marijuana in their pockets.

"For individuals who have any kind of a record, even a minuscule one, 
the obstacles are enormous to employment and to education," said 
Donna Lieberman, the executive director of the New York Civil 
Liberties Union. "When it's really a huge number of kids in the 
community who go through this, and all have the same story, the 
impact is just devastating."

The police in New York City made 50,684 arrests last year for 
possession of a small amount of marijuana, more than for any other 
offense, according to an analysis of state data by Harry G. Levine, a 
sociologist at Queens College. The arrests continued - one in seven 
arrests made in the city was for low-level marijuana possession - 
even as Commissioner Kelly issued his directive.

Mr. Bloomberg has opposed ending arrests for the possession of small 
amounts of marijuana. His administration has argued that the arrests 
serve to reduce more serious crime by deterring drug dealing and the 
violence that can accompany the drug trade. A spokesman for the mayor 
declined to comment Sunday.

Mr. Cuomo plans to announce his support for the change at a news 
conference at the Capitol. While his push comes late in the year's 
legislative session, which is scheduled to end June 21, the governor 
has been successful in his first 17 months in office at focusing 
attention on a limited number of legislative priorities and 
persuading lawmakers to address them quickly.

"This proposal will bring long overdue consistency and fairness to 
New York State's Penal Law and save thousands of New Yorkers, 
particularly minority youth, from the unnecessary and life-altering 
trauma of a criminal arrest and, in some cases, prosecution," an 
administration official said in an e-mail.

It would also save law enforcement "countless man-hours wasted" on 
arrests and prosecutions "for what is clearly only a minor offense," 
the official added.

Officials in the Cuomo administration said the marijuana-possession 
arrests were problematic in part because they subjected New Yorkers, 
many of them young, to the process of being booked, retaining a 
lawyer and carrying the stigma of having been arrested. And they 
argued that the arrests were harming the relationship between the 
police and young people.

More than a dozen states have decriminalized possession of small 
amounts of marijuana, including Connecticut last year and California 
the year before. In New York, the Legislature in 1977 reduced the 
penalty for possession of 25 grams or less of marijuana to a 
violation, which carries a maximum fine of $100 for first-time offenders.

But it remains a misdemeanor if the marijuana is in public view or is 
being smoked in public, and lawmakers and drug-reform advocates have 
argued that the misdemeanor charge is often unfairly applied to 
suspects who did not have marijuana in public view until the police 
stopped them and told them to empty their pockets.

"Now it's in public view," Professor Levine said. "If you go by the 
police reports, all around New York City, there are people standing 
around with their palms outstretched with a bit of marijuana in them."

 From 2002 to 2011, New York City recorded 400,000 low-level 
marijuana arrests, according to his analysis. That represented more 
arrests than under Mr. Bloomberg's three predecessors put together - 
a period of 24 years. Most of those arrested have been young black 
and Hispanic men, and most had no prior criminal convictions.

Mr. Cuomo's action comes after a number of state legislators and City 
Council members, many of them representing neighborhoods with large 
minority populations, have sought ways to force change at the Police 
Department.

In Albany, some lawmakers have proposed legislation that would 
prevent police officers from stopping people based only on their race 
or ethnicity, and that would create an inspector general to oversee 
the Police Department.

And Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, Democrat of Brooklyn, and State 
Senator Mark J. Grisanti, Republican of Buffalo, have pressed a bill 
to end low-level marijuana arrests.

Mr. Cuomo's proposal would reduce the penalty for the possession of 
25 grams or less of marijuana in public view to a violation.

It would continue to classify public marijuana smoking as a 
misdemeanor, unlike the bill proposed by Mr. Jeffries and Mr. 
Grisanti, which would decriminalize it.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom