Pubdate: Wed, 01 Apr 2015
Source: Albuquerque Journal (NM)
Copyright: 2015 Albuquerque Journal
Contact:  http://www.abqjournal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/10
Author: T.S. Last

SF POLICE USE TOUGHER POT PENALTIES

City Ordinance to Decriminalize Marijuana Possession Is Ignored

SANTA FE - Last summer, the Santa Fe City Council took action to 
decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana, making it a 
civil nuisance violation under city law as opposed to a criminal 
charge under a coexisting state statute.

But it appears Santa Fe police officers, who retained the discretion 
to cite offenders under either law, lately have been ignoring the 
city ordinance altogether.

The difference is significant. Those charged under state law face a 
criminal petty misdemeanor - punishable by up to 15 days in jail and 
fines up to $100 - that remains on a person's record.

Under the ordinance, offenders are charged with a civil violation 
subject to a maximum $25 fine.

Documents obtained through a public records request and a search of 
online court records indicate that Santa Fe police officers haven't 
issued a citation under the city ordinance for nearly five months. 
Since Nov. 5, when the last verifiable citation was issued under the 
city ordinance, there have been more than 70 charges under the state statute.

"I understand that it's an option," City Councilor Joseph Maestas 
said of the discretion city police officers have to cite offenders 
under either law, "but it's troubling to me that policy hasn't been 
fully accepted to the degree of full implementation.

"I see legislation passed by the City Council as policy, and I would 
expect police officers to strive to follow it. I'd like to know what 
are the reasons behind it, and what guidance and direction has been 
given by police leadership regarding the city law."

Asked for comment, Police Chief Eric Garcia said through a 
spokeswoman, "We encourage our personnel to take advantage of this 
initiative, but the officers still have discretion as to which court 
to utilize."

The reason police union president Mat t Martinez gave for the lack of 
citations under the ordinance is the same one the city provided in 
November - that officers haven't had new citation forms for charging 
violators with the municipal civil infraction, because the forms 
hadn't been printed.

"They pretty much had no choice but to cite them as criminal in 
magistrate court because they were waiting for the city to come out 
with the new forms," he said.

Martinez noted that until last November cases involving possession of 
an ounce or less of marijuana that were cited under the city's own 
former criminal misdemeanor ordinance were being tossed out of Santa 
Fe Municipal Court for lack of jurisdiction, after the City Council 
approved decriminalization.

Martinez said the new civil violation forms were only received about 
a week ago. A police department spokeswoman confirmed that the forms 
were issued to officers "within the last month."

"Now that the civil citations have come out," officers will begin 
issuing the civil citations for pot possession, Martinez said.

When told of this explanation, Councilor Maestas said he was 
"embarrassed" that it has taken so long for citations to be printed 
to reflect the decriminalization ordinance, which was approved by the 
council Aug. 27.

Councilor Patti Bushee's response was to say, "That sounds like a poor excuse."

115 cases

Over a seven-month period from Aug. 28 to March 21, SFPD issued 115 
citations or charges to people for possession of less than an ounce 
of marijuana or drug paraphernalia. Initially, during the months of 
September and October, the number of citations issued under the new 
decriminalization ordinance and charges for violations of the 
criminal state statute were fairly evenly split, with 18 people cited 
under the statute and 17 under the new ordinance.

But the civil citations under the new city law appear to have 
completely stopped after Nov. 5.

Most of those cited during the time period were young people, the 
average age being under 25 years old. Of the 115 citations, only 
about 27 were issued to people age 30 or older. About 16 minors were 
cited, in one case as young as 12 years old.

Many of the pot violations came during traffic stops when officers 
detected the odor of marijuana while interacting with the driver. 
About 50 resulted from activity that took place along the Cerrillos 
Road corridor.

The most came during the month of November, when there were 21 cases. 
February was the least active month, with nine violations for 
marijuana or paraphernalia.

Initially one officer, Ladislas Szabo, was making far and away more 
the most pot cases - both under the statute and the ordinance. He has 
since been promoted to detective, the SFPD spokeswoman said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom