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."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom