Pubdate: Tue, 23 Sep 2014
Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Copyright: 2014 The Seattle Times Company
Contact:  http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/409
Authors: Steve Miletich and Evan Bush

CITY HITTING 'RESET BUTTON' IN MOVE TO DISMISS PUBLIC POT-USE TICKETS

As the city moves to dismiss 100 tickets tainted by one police 
officer's political agenda, Seattle police said Monday they plan new 
steps to better teach the department's officers and citizens about 
the ban on smoking marijuana in public.

"It's not really about writing tickets. We're trying to educate 
people," Deputy Chief Carmen Best told the City Council during a 
briefing prompted by the disclosure that bicycle Officer Randy 
Jokelaissued the vast majority of public-use tickets the first half 
of the year for personal reasons.

As a result of Jokela's actions, City Attorney Pete Holmes informed 
the council he will seek dismissal of all 100 tickets written for 
public marijuana use during the first seven months of the year, 
including tickets written by other officers.

In what he called a practical move, Holmes told the council the 
"cleanest and most efficient thing to do" is vacate every ticket and 
"hit the reset button," in part because Jokela's ticket writing 
compromised the council's directive to monitor the effect of the ban 
enacted last year.

Jokela issued about 80 percent of the $27 tickets for public pot use 
from Jan. 1 to June 30, referring to Holmes on many of them with the 
notation "*Attn: Petey Holmes*."

Holmes actively supported Initiative 502, which legalized pot smoking 
in 2012 but barred public use. Jokela also wrote on one ticket that 
he had flipped a coin to decide which of two people to cite.

Best told the council that maintaining the tickets Jokela wrote would 
be "irresponsible and unethical" because people were cited by an 
officer with "political motivation."

Holmes' plan includes 86 infractions identified as part of a 
department study of the first six months of the ban, of which at 
least 66 were written by Jokela. They stand to be dismissed if 
approved by a judge during a Seattle Municipal Court hearing that 
could be held as early as Tuesday.

Holmes' request includes 14 tickets written in July, because Jokela 
also issued tickets that month. Jokela wrote the majority of those 
tickets, the council was told.

Those who were cited had the option of paying the fine, seeking to 
have it lowered or contesting the infraction. The cases of those who 
defaulted were sent to collections.

City attorneys will file 100 individual motions Tuesday with Seattle 
Municipal Court to dismiss the tickets. Of 22 offenders who paid 
fines, the City Attorney's Office will ask the court to refund the 
money, said to Holmes' spokeswoman, Kimberly Mills.

The other 78 tickets are in default, and there will be no attempt to 
collect, Mills said.

The Seattle police study found that 99 percent of all public-use 
tickets were issued for infractions in the West Precinct, where 
Jokela works, primarily in Victor Steinbrueck Park, Westlake Park, 
Occidental Park and downtown streets. More than 40 percent of people 
who received tickets lived in low-income housing, shelters, motels or 
vacant lots.

Holmes' plan goes beyond Police Chief Kathleen O'Toole's earlier 
request to dismiss tickets written only by Jokela, who's still 
subject to discipline.

Best told the council the department has nearly finished its internal 
review of Jokela's actions and that the results would be publicly disclosed.

Best declined to elaborate on Jokela's specific political motivation 
while the matter is still under review. But she said Jokela had made 
it clear he had a political motive in a discussion with O'Toole.

O'Toole has notified Jokela he faces a three-day suspension without 
pay, and she has informed Jokela's immediate supervisor, Sgt. Ryan 
Long, he faces a one-day suspension without pay, according to a 
police source familiar with the matter.

O'Toole won't issue her final decision until after she meets with 
Jokela and Long to discuss the proposed discipline.

Jokela's actions came to the attention of police staff reviewing data 
collected for its first semiannual report on enforcement of the 
public-use ban, which was delivered to the council in July.

The report was made public without disclosing Jokela's role in 
writing most of the tickets. But O'Toole quickly revealed the 
officer's conduct when she learned of it days after the release of the report.

Holmes told the council the report's statistical sampling had been 
skewed by Jokela's actions. "I'd like to have a clean sampling," he said.

Assistant Chief Nick Metz, acknowledging there has been confusion 
about enforcing the public-use ban, told the council the department 
was focused on educating the public about the law and teaching 
officers how to enforce it.

He said that when officers encounter someone smoking marijuana, they 
should, if possible, issue a verbal warning. Under a new directive to 
track that, officers will be expected to document warnings, Metz said.

"This is all new. I think some officers may have been a bit 
apprehensive about exactly how to enforce this," Metz said, 
responding to a question about the clearing of tickets and why only 
eight warnings were written since Sept. 2. "So again, it's our job to 
make sure they clearly understand what is expected of them and what 
they are authorized to do."

Metz said he liked Councilmember Tom Rasmussen's suggestion that the 
department hand leaflets to offenders containing information on the 
rules about smoking pot.

Officers will have the discretion to bypass warnings under certain 
circumstances, such as seeing someone smoking pot in public who 
previously has been warned, Metz said.

Holmes said the city wants to allow people the full benefit of 
marijuana legalization, while educating them on what they can't do.

"We want to change behavior," he told the council. "This is not about 
promoting, you know, a smoke-in in downtown Seattle."

After the briefing, Holmes told reporters he was sympathetic to 
concerns that public pot use was widespread. "It does bother me," 
Holmes said, adding that people have the right not to be subjected to 
secondhand smoke.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom