Pubdate: Mon, 14 Dec 2015
Source: Dallas Morning News (TX)
Copyright: 2015 The Dallas Morning News, Inc.
Contact: http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/send-a-letter/
Website: http://www.dallasnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/117

A SMARTER USE OF TIME

Dallas Should Try Citations Over Jail for Pot

David Brown is Dallas' police chief and, as such, admits he has mixed 
feelings when the question is whether his officers should write 
citations instead of booking into jail those arrested for small 
amounts of marijuana. You can see how this might be.

The cop in Brown sees minor busts as one more tool to develop 
informants or just information that might lead to bigger busts. Every 
arrest is potential leverage over a suspect, even if it's just an 
ounce or two of weed.

The manager in Brown sees it differently. Every minor pot arrest 
means a Dallas police officer must drive the suspect downtown for 
booking at the Lew Sterrett Justice Center. If everything goes well 
.. and, well, it so seldom does. This means the officer is stuck 
waiting around, sometimes for hours.

And not only is this precious shift time dribbling away, it's time 
your average, taxpaying Dallas resident would prefer to have that 
officer back on the street making more arrests.

Also contributing to Brown's mental conflict: He's trying to convince 
the City Council that response times would improve if he had more 
officers on the street. Right now, he says he's doing 
loaves-and-fishes with about 3,500 sworn officers - or about 200 
fewer than when he took over in 2010.

It's common sense that more officers would cut residents' wait times 
from their 911 calls, but it's common sense that comes with a price 
tag. That's the council's call, not Brown's. So freeing more officers 
from waiting around at the jail could help accomplish some of that 
goal more immediately.

Instead of booking suspects, a 2007 state law allows written 
citations in lieu of jail bookings for some Class A and B misdemeanor 
offenses, including marijuana possession of less than 4 ounces.

Under "cite and summons," suspects must appear before a magistrate on 
a specific date, as with a traffic ticket. Nothing else changes, 
including the range of punishment for the offense. In Texas, 
marijuana possession remains against the law.

Still, despite the obvious benefits, few departments have taken 
advantage. The Travis County Sheriff 's Department was an early 
adopter, as were the Austin Police Department and Hays County sheriff.

This newspaper has encouraged adoption in Dallas County since the law 
passed. At various times, officials from the city and county have 
expressed interest, but nothing has happened yet. Brown spoke last 
week before the City Council's Public Safety Committee, which 
referred the idea to the full council without a recommendation.

So let us insert that recommendation. In a city as spread out as 
Dallas, with policing needs greater than most, cite and summons is at 
least worth a try. As Brown himself says, it's "just so damn 
practical." And couldn't we use a little more of that in our policing? 
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom