Pubdate: Sun, 28 Sep 2014
Source: Tampa Bay Times (FL)
Copyright: 2014 St. Petersburg Times
Contact: http://www.sptimes.com/letters/
Website: http://www.tampabay.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/419
Author: Stephen Nohlgren and Kameel Stanley
Page: 1A

IT'S NOT BECAUSE OF WHO SMOKES POT AND WHO DOESN'T

Black People In Pinellas And Hillsborough Are At Least Six Times As
Likely To Be Arrested For Marijuana Possession As White People

Federal surveys show that 10 to 12 percent of both races use marijuana
at least once a month.

What does differ is how pot marketplaces unfold in various
neighborhoods and how police agencies respond.

As a result, a mood-altering substance that many Floridians think
should be legal generates criminals in one sector of the community
while other people largely skate free.

'The harm is far greater than the harm marijuana ever did'' because
citizens view the justice system as unfair, said Broward County Public
Defender Howard Finkelstein, who last month asked the U.S. Justice
Department to investigate similar imbalances in Fort Lauderdale.

'You cannot let one group of people play then punish the other
people.'' Racial disparities in pot possession arrests is not a new
topic. But the disparities are particularly pronounced in Pinellas and
Hillsborough counties, a Tampa Bay Times analysis found.

Nationwide, black people were 3.7 times as likely to be arrested from
2001 to 2010, according to an American Civil Liberties Union report
based on FBI crime statistics and census data.

The 2013 disparity in Pinellas and Hillsborough was nearly double
that, the Times analysis found.

One reason is open air drug dealing, said St. Petersburg police Chief
Tony Holloway.

In poor, black neighborhoods, cars, bicycles or pedestrians approach
houses or street corners, sellers hand out the goods and frustrated
citizens complain. Harder drugs like cocaine are also being sold and
violence can erupt.

Police respond by putting extra resources into those
neighborhoods.

'People want police action because you don't want to have to walk out
of your house and walk through a bunch of drug dealers. That's why we
get arrested more than whites, because we do it out in the open,''
said Holloway, who is black.

'On Snell Isle, I guarantee you you will not have white kids standing
on the corner selling drugs. They will get paged and they will tell
you where to meet someone. He may be selling drugs on Snell Isle, but
he is doing it, I hate to say it, in a better way.'' Enforcement
efforts should fall equally in all parts of town, said Kurt Donley,
chairman of the St. Petersburg NAACP's criminal justice committee.

'If you hang out near a white, affluent high school and see two males
in a car and pull it over, you are going to get plenty of drugs,''
said Donley, who is white. 'You have Eckerd College named by the
Princeton Review as one of the top five pot-friendly colleges in the
country. Nobody is going in there arresting wealthy white kids.

'If all you do is fish in a black pond, you are going to get black
fish.''

It Starts Early

Marijuana possession though sometimes resulting in no more than a
ticket and fine can alter the course of life.

One joint can cost a person his driver's license. Three-quarters of an
ounce constitutes a felony in Florida and can wipe out prospects for
jobs, housing and higher education.

Disproportionate arrests start early, Pinellas Public Defender Bob
Dillinger said. Last year, Pinellas authorities arrested 117 black
youths for misdemeanor drug possession, compared to 200 white youths.
Census data show there are four to five times more white youths than
black ones.

'Research has shown that a child who touches the detention center for
even one night is impacted for the remainder of their lives,''
Dillinger said. 'We have awful racial disparity. The numbers speak for
themselves.'' The statistics are worth discussing, said Pinellas
County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, but he sees no evidence that law
enforcement officers arrest people based on race.

Possession arrests often stem from more serious crimes, like robbery,
car theft or DUI, Gualtieri noted. Police search a suspect and out
pops a joint or a bag. No one is being targeted, he said.

'I think the real test is how many people are booked and arrested when
there is no other charge except marijuana,'' Gualtieri said. 'It makes
a huge, huge difference, and it's what I would want to know from a
disparity standpoint.' To answer that question, the Times analyzed
2013 data from the St. Petersburg Police Department. A little over
half of adult misdemeanor pot possession arrests were accompanied by
other charges. But the rest were for possession only. In those cases,
the black-white disparity still hovered above a ratio of 6-to-1.

For every 10,000 white residents in 2013, St. Petersburg police
arrested about 15 on misdemeanor pot charges. For every 10,000 black
residents, about 95 were arrested - six times the white rate.

The disparities for Clearwater and Pinellas County also topped 6-to-1.
Largo's black-white ratio was roughly 12-to-1. Largo police did not
comment.

Hillsborough County as a whole had an arrest disparity of 7-to-1.
Tampa's number is harder to pinpoint because arrest data provided by
Tampa police and the county Sheriff's Office differed.

According to the county numbers, Tampa's black-white arrest disparity
is about 7-to-1. City data put it at about 5-to-1.

Regardless, 'race does not play a role in any arrest in Tampa,' police
spokeswoman Laura McElroy said. 'People are arrested for breaking the
law regardless of their race.' Likewise, Hillsborough sheriff's
spokesman Larry McKinnon rejected any notion that citizens are
specifically targeted because of their race.

'Sheriff David Gee requires all his deputies to act with a strong
sense of honesty, morality, goodness and ethical character,'' McKinnon
said.

Marijuana and the law is an evolving issue, McKinnon
said.

'Many factors should be looked at, including what it is that society
wants their law enforcement officials to enforce or not when it comes
to this widely debated topic.'' Holloway, who took over the St.
Petersburg department in August, said he is examining everything at
the agency, including marijuana arrest rates.

The Times did not analyze Pasco or Hernando data, but the ACLU noted
that both counties had black-white arrest disparities below the
national average of 3.7. Florida's black-white ratio arrest was about
4-to-1.

Age differences might explain some imbalances. Pot use tends to be
heaviest in people ages 18-45 and black communities on both sides of
the bay are younger than white communities.

Still, disparities can spell trouble for law enforcement agencies if
controversies arise. The U.S. Justice Department is currently taking a
broad look at racial issues in Ferguson, Mo., and plans to branch out
to five additional cities soon. Disparities in arrest data is one
factor the agency examines, along with use of force, training and
personnel practices.

'Policing that has a disparate impact on members of a particular race
may be unlawful not only where it is intentional, but also where it is
unintentional but avoidable,'' the Justice Department concluded this
summer in a settlement with Newark, N.J.

Among other things, the settlement called for Newark police to wear
body cameras.

Out In The Open

In St. Petersburg, investigative techniques to combat open drug
dealing lead to frequent police stops in neighborhoods with
predominantly black residents.

Covert street crimes officers, driving run-of-the-mill cars, cruise by
known drug sale locales looking for suspicious behavior.

Perhaps someone is driving too fast - buyers, as well as 'mules' who
deliver drugs to street sellers, often leave the area quickly after
conducting business. Maybe someone delivers a package. Maybe money
changes hands. Maybe a car is rented or registered to a person who
lives outside the neighborhood.

The officer follows the car looking for any traffic infraction
speeding, seat belt, rolling stop - then radios to nearby uniformed
teammates to pull the driver over.

A driver who seems clean often gets no more than a warning, but if the
pungent smell of marijuana wafts from the car or the driver stuffs
something under the seat, a search becomes legal.

Pedestrians and bikers near drug holes also can be searched if they
break city ordinances.

'If you are pulled over for biking without a light, I would venture to
say that 99 percent of those are south of Central Avenue,'' said
Dillinger, the public defender. 'Walking in the street when a sidewalk
is available is 99.9 percent black.'' Though sellers are the main
target, veteran street crimes Sgt. Marlon Heywood explained that
arresting buyers can help nail traffickers.

'You need the guy to say he bought it from the dealer,'' Heywood said.
'If you get one or two of them, then you can get the seller and have
vice detectives get him to cooperate and work up to the suppliers.''
Sometimes, simple carelessness reigns.

One day last week, a black man was issued a notice to appear in court
after a covert officer stopped by a drug hole and saw him sauntering
along Third Avenue S with a marijuana joint tucked behind his ear.

His behavior - plus the presence of a police team in the area - added
him to the statistics.
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