Most pot smokers caught puffing in public won’t get arrested starting on Sept. 1, Mayor de Blasio announced Tuesday.
The new policy is expected to cut the number of pot arrests by about 10,000 a year. Last year, there were 17,500 arrests.
De Blasio made the announcement at a recreation center in East Harlem, the neighborhood that has topped the city for pot busts.
“You can arrest fewer people, and make everyone safer,” de Blasio said.
Most public pot smokers will now get criminal summonses with a fine up to $100, instead of getting cuffed. But there will be exceptions: people with open warrants, on parole or probation, lacking identification, with a violent criminal record in the last three years, or caught smoking while driving will still get arrested.
Cops will also have discretion to make arrests if they determine there’s a solid law enforcement reason to do so, such as if someone is smoking in a park around kids or smoking on a subway or bus. A high number of complaints about smoking at a particular location could also lead to arrests, but a precinct supervisor will have to sign off on discretionary arrests.
“This is about striking a balance,” de Blasio said. “No one should be smoking marijuana publicly. It’s illegal, period. Is it happening every day? Yes. So we’re trying to deal with it in the most productive, fair way.”
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De Blasio and the NYPD came under fire over stats showing the vast majority of people arrested for weed possession are black and Latino.
He ordered the NYPD to do a 30-day review of its marijuana enforcement policy, but told the Daily News last month he planned to stop public smoking arrests in most cases.
Hizzoner, who has long opposed the legalization of marijuana, has also formed a task force to prepare for the day the drug becomes legal. Gov. Cuomo’s health commissioner, Howard Zucker, revealed Monday that a coming report will recommend legalization of recreational pot in the state.
De Blasio in his first year in office ordered a halt to arrests for people caught with marijuana in their possession, but not smoking it. The number of arrests dropped, but 87% of those arrested in 2017 were black and Latino.
“The NYPD does not target anyone based on race or any other demographic,” Police Commissioner James O’Neill said at the press conference with de Blasio. “The NYPD is not in the business of making criminals out of people with no prior arrest history. We know that’s not productive.”
The Brooklyn and Manhattan district attorneys have already said they’d stop prosecuting most marijuana smoking cases. Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez said Tuesday he’ll soon launch a program to seal old marijuana convictions, and Manhattan DA Cy Vance Jr. said he will decline to prosecute even some people still subject to arrest under the new policy.
Studies have shown that black and white people use pot at roughly equal rates, but the NYPD noted in its working group report that no research has reached conclusions on the demographics of people who smoke in public.
O’Neill sent a message to all police officers Tuesday notifying them of the new policy.
While they insisted it was not motivated by bias, NYPD officials acknowledged their review had not determined the reason for the big racial gap in enforcement. They said they would continue to study the question.
Critics said that the new policy won’t change the racial gap in arrests that still happen — and since it’s mostly people of color on parole or probation or with a prior record, the gap could even get bigger.
“If the mayor wanted to create a plan to make racial disparities in marijuana enforcement worse, he’s accomplished it with this,” said Monifa Bandele, a spokeswoman for Communities United for Police Reform.
But de Blasio said while questions about the demographic breakdown are legitimate, easing up on arrests across the board will have a bigger practical effect.
“This is going to affect actual people’s lives,” he said. “Every time there’s one fewer arrest, inherently it means someone’s life is not affected as negatively. And we know overwhelmingly those arrests are people of color, particularly young men of color.”
New York Civil Liberties Union executive director Donna Lieberman said unfairness in enforcement will not change until the law is changed to make the drug legal.
“Substituting summonses for arrests is certainly an improvement, but not nearly enough to end counterproductive and discriminatory policing that has disproportionate and harmful impacts on communities of color,” she said. “For New York to achieve common sense criminal justice and public health policies we need to legalize marijuana at the state level.”
De Blasio said he’s still not on board with legalization, though he has accepted it is likely to happen.
“I’m not there yet,” he said, adding there should be thorough regulations to limit the marketing of marijuana and make sure business in the new industry is distributed fairly in place before the drug becomes legal. “I’m going to be a very strong voice saying look before you leap.”
De Blasio and the NYPD came under fire over stats showing the vast majority of people arrested for weed possession are black and Latino.
He ordered the NYPD to do a 30 day review of its marijuana enforcement policy, but told the Daily News last month he planned to stop public smoking arrests in most cases.
Hizzoner, who has long opposed the legalization of marijuana, has also formed a task force to prepare for the day the drug becomes legal. Gov. Cuomo’s health commissioner Howard Zucker revealed Monday that a coming report will recommend legalization of recreational pot in the state.
De Blasio in his first year in office ordered a halt to arrests for people caught with marijuana in their possession, but not smoking it. The number of arrests dropped, but 87% of those arrested in 2017 were black and Latino.
“The NYPD does not target anyone based on race or any other demographic,” Police Commissioner James O’Neill said at the press conference with de Blasio. “The NYPD is not in the business of making criminals out of people with no prior arrest history. We know that’s not productive.”
The Brooklyn and Manhattan district attorneys have already said they’d stop prosecuting most marijuana smoking cases. Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez said Tuesday he’ll soon launch a program to seal old marijuana convictions, and Manhattan DA Cy Vance said he will decline to prosecute even some people still subject to arrest under the new policy.
Studies have shown that black and white people use pot at roughly equal rates, but the NYPD noted in its working group report that no research has reached conclusions on the demographics of people who smoke in public.
O’Neill sent a message to all police officers Tuesday notifying them of the new policy.
While they insisted it was not motivated by bias, NYPD officials acknowledged their review had not determined the reason for the big racial gap in enforcement. They said they would continue to study the question.
Critics said that the new policy won’t change the racial gap in arrests that still happen - and since it’s mostly people of color on parole or probation or with a prior record, the gap could even get bigger.
“If the mayor wanted to create a plan to make racial disparities in marijuana enforcement worse, he’s accomplished it with this,” said Monifa Bandele, a spokeswoman for Communities United for Police Reform.
But de Blasio said while questions about the demographic breakdown are legitimate, easing up on arrests across the board will have a bigger practical effect.
“This is going to affect actual people’s lives,” he said. “Every time there’s one fewer arrest, inherently it means someone’s life is not affected as negatively. And we know overwhelmingly those arrests are people of color, particularly young men of color.”
New York Civil Liberties Union executive director Donna Lieberman unfairness in enforcement will not change until the law is changed to make the drug legal.
“Substituting summonses for arrests is certainly an improvement, but not nearly enough to end counterproductive and discriminatory policing that has disproportionate and harmful impacts on communities of color,” she said. “For New York to achieve common sense criminal justice and public health policies we need to legalize marijuana at the state level.”
De Blasio said he’s still not on board with legalization, though he has accepted it is likely to happen.
“I’m not there yet,” he said, adding there should be thorough regulations to limit the marketing of marijuana and make sure business in the new industry is distributed fairly in place before the drug becomes legal. “I’m going to be a very strong voice saying look before you leap.”