Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes briefed the Seattle City Council on his annual reportand shared thoughts on marijuana enforcement, as Seattlepi.com also notes. His report says that “with the exception of one case that accidentally got through, not one possession of marijuana case was filed all year.” But Holmes included this dandy bar graph that shows the Seattle Police Department is referring more than twice as many pot cases now than when he was elected:
- Seattle City Attorney’s Office
- Marijuana cases more that doubled between 2008 and 2010
We wrote about the increase in marijuana referrals last summer, when the mid-year rates for marijuana filings were nearly three times higher than the previous year. But today Holmes’s office couldn’t speculate on the reason for a jump in marijuana referrals, said spokeswoman Kimberly Mills.
Mayor Mike McGinn speculated last year that the increase in pot referrals may not indicate more stops for marijuana. The higher numbers may result from new automated electronic filing mechanism (Criminal Justice Information System) that may capture more police activity. Spokesman Aaron Pickus says the automated system removes officers’ discretion from filtering out cases, so all cases actually appear as referrals to Holmes’s office. Is this why the numbers are higher? “We can’t quantify the effect on the numbers between the old system and the new system,” says Pickus. In other words, a year later, McGinn’s office is still speculating.
Sean Whitcomb, SPD spokesman, also can’t explain the apparent jump in marijuana referrals. But he says that while marijuana is the department’s lowest priority, it’s “still technicality a law violation and we may be in a position to take some sort of enforcement action. We understand and recognize that these cases may not be prosecuted.”
It’s hard to be sure what’s happening. But to his credit, Holmes has been innovative, decisive, and has walked his talk—even co-sponsoring a smart state initiative filed in June to legalize and tax the pot industry—and made this a purely academic question since he refuses to press charges. McGinn, on the other hand, well… he talks a big game on legalizing pot. But that’s about it.
Jesus, Whitcomb, if you know the case is not going to be filed, how about you guys STOP TAKING ENFORCEMENT ACTION? Isn’t that part of what “lowest priority” is all about? For fuck’s sake, stop wasting the city’s money with this bullshit exercise in futility.
Reactionary elements in the PD trying to stockpile ammo against other parts of city government? Or is that a “duh”?
If you are arrested, does that arrest stay on your record if there is no prosecution?
Has SPD solved the hit and run case against the bicyclist on Dexter yet? No? Then it would seem at least one higher priority case still exists, quit wasting my tax dollars SPD.
Why speculate? If a change in reporting methodology affected these numbers, shouldn’t it be reflected in other case types as well? Say, jaywalking or other instances where an officer is likely to just give a warning?
Exactly what happens when they arrest you then? I’m picturing you get brought to the station in cuffs, and then a moment of awkwardness as they then take them off and you walk away.
Shouldn’t the SPD dig into the numbers to explain them? Where I work we have to justify these sorts of jumps all the time.
The City Council and Mayor could legalize tomorrow and bar the SPD from using any state budget funds, including man hours in any capacity, from enforcing state or Federal marijuana laws.
@1
“Spokesman Aaron Pickus says the automated system removes officers’ discretion from filtering out cases, so all cases actually appear as referrals to Holmes’s office. “
Assuming that is true it may just be that when officers arrest or detain someone and find weed on them it gets filed regardless. Whereas before they ma have just tossed the weed and done nothing.
Pretty easy to guess what’s probably happening here:
People are smoking joints less furtively now that they know they won’t be prosecuted. SPD exploits this by busting them anyway, since they can use the arrest to justify a search for other contraband, as well as run their ID for warrants.
I forgot to add:
From SPD’s point of view, it’s not that they are making pot arrests a priority. Rather, they are using pot arrests as a legal tool to fight whatever other crimes they might discover by searching the arrestee and running that warrant check.