Pubdate: Thu, 24 Mar 2016 Source: Dallas Morning News (TX) Copyright: 2016 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 Author: Tristan Hallman POT CITATION PLAN GOES UP IN SMOKE Misdemeanor marijuana possession will still mean jail time in Dallas. Misdemeanor marijuana possession will still mean jail time in Dallas after City Council members spurned a much-discussed plan to instead issue citations to those caught with small amounts of pot. Council members on Wednesday got into the weeds of the proposed Dallas County pilot program and possible discrimination concerns before they rejected the so-called cite-and-release plan. Opposition from council member Sandy Greyson and Police Chief David Brown prevailed. Cite-and-release was meant to save police officers time and keep nonviolent offenders from crowding the Dallas County Jail. Dallas police estimate that 1,200 arrests each year are for misdemeanor marijuana possession only. Officers could still make arrests if unpaid tickets later became warrants. But the plan was ultimately too small to succeed. Parts of the city that fall in Collin and Denton counties were not included in the pilot program. Greyson, who represents Far North Dallas, said the plan was unfair to her constituents. "In my 13 years on council, I have never seen the council vote intentionally that would discriminate against some members of our city based on where they live," she said. Mayor Mike Rawlings, once supportive of the plan, and Brown, who once called it "just so damn practical," both said they were persuaded by Greyson. "We believe in fairness and justice," Brown said. "I don't want to fix this issue of fairness and justice in the criminal justice system for low-level drug offenses by being unfair to other groups." A 2007 state law allows the cite-and-release program, but renewed public support for criminal justice reform stoked discussions since 2014 in Dallas County. The cost of setting up a court system for the tickets became a sticking point. And Brown said Collin County officials didn't believe the plan made financial sense, since they only had about 10 marijuana-only arrests each year. Council member Philip Kingston, a cite-and-release supporter, said it's "Collin County that is unreasonably discriminating against citizens of Dallas" by not joining the program. "If you have the opportunity to make one person's life you represent better and more just, even if you can't do it for two people, you should always do that," Kingston said. "We always want to improve the life of Dallasites that we can, even if we can't bring them all along at the same time." Brown also hinted that he didn't like that the plan required officers to write tickets instead of giving them discretion to make an arrest. But after council member Adam McGough proposed to give the officers discretion, Brown said doing so would be worse. "The discretion can't be managed," he said. "You're likely to have issues raised by citizens of discrimination because I got arrested and somebody else got a citation." McGough's amendment failed by an 11-4 vote. The citeand-release pilot program failed 10-5. Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said after the vote Wednesday that cite-and-release should still be on the table. "We've got to come up with smarter approaches to deal with incarceration," he said. "Moreover, we need to look at reversing the trend of the last 40 years targeting young men of color by our law enforcement, which has led to tremendous problems and real damage to our communities." Council member Rickey Callahan, who joined the opposition, offered a simpler solution, telling people they should stop carrying marijuana in public. "If you don't want to be arrested for pot possession, simply don't possess it in your motor vehicle," Callahan said. "Smoke it at home." - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom