Pubdate: Sat, 18 Jul 2015
Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Copyright: 2015 The Seattle Times Company
Contact:  http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/409
Author: Evan Bush

SEATTLE POT CITATIONS CONTINUE TO SKEW TOWARD BLACKS, MEN

Second Study

More Than Half of the 85 Tickets Issued in Downtown Parks

The second study of marijuana-use tickets issued by Seattle police 
looks much like the first: Blacks are disproportionately cited for 
marijuana use, men received about 90 percent of the tickets and 
downtown parks are again popular places for officers to hand out tickets.

Results of the police department's study, which is required by city 
ordinance, will be discussed at 9:30 a.m. Monday during a City 
Council briefing.

Police issued 85 tickets, which carry a $27 penalty, from July 1, 
2014, through the end of last year. Although blacks make up about 8 
percent of Seattle's population, according to Census Bureau figures, 
they received about 27 percent of tickets issued. Forty-four tickets 
- - more than half - were issued in city parks, all downtown.

More than 90 percent of the citations were written by Seattle 
police's West Precinct. About 9 percent of tickets were paid; 70 
percent are in default, according to the study.

All of the tickets included in the police department's first report 
were thrown out last year as part of a "reset effort" because a 
single cop, Officer Randy Jokela, wrote the majority of them.

Jokela issued about 80 percent of the tickets in the first report. 
Some citations referred to City Attorney Pete Holmes, who campaigned 
for marijuana legalization in 2012, as "Petey Holmes." On one ticket, 
Jokela wrote that he flipped a coin to decide which of two people to 
cite for pot use.

Seattle Police Chief Kathleen O'Toole said last year the tickets were 
written for the "wrong reasons."

Jokela was temporarily reassigned but returned to his bike patrol 
work in Belltown and Queen Anne last August.

Tickets Jokela wrote last July were also thrown out. It's not clear 
if those tickets are counted in the second SPD study.

Although reports are due to the City Council every six months, it has 
been almost exactly a year since the police department's first 
report. Why the delay? In April, Sgt. Sean Whitcomb said the police 
department was slow to produce the report because the citations are paper.

"It required a lot of hand research," Whitcomb said.

The report was first delivered to the City Council in a memo dated 
May 18. The council and police department have had difficulty 
scheduling a briefing on the study.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom