UPDATE: Chicago Police Supt Garry McCarthy: "Pot citations possible instead of arrest & booking" In a potential shift in attitude, Chicago police may begin issuing citations to people caught with small amounts of marijuana instead of locking them up and booking them, Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said today.
The superintendent’s remarks came after Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle highlighted last week how offenders arrested for possessing small quantities of drugs often clog up the system, only to have their cases later dismissed by judges.
McCarthy said he talked about the issue with Mayor Rahm Emanuel as far back as May. He insisted police will keep on arresting people for marijuana offenses, but said the arrestees may get a citation or a summons to appear in court, rather than being booked.
“We will continue to make arrests for illegal behavior, whether it’s public urination or whether it’s carrying a firearm. It’s really that simple,” McCarthy said after joining Emanuel and Ald. Deborah Graham, 29th, at an anti-violence march in the Austin neighborhood. “We’re looking at different arrest processing, not not making the arrests.”
Police officials are at this point only considering changing the marijuana policy, according to McCarthy. “It’s not cooked yet,” he said, but added “I think that people are going to see some changes down the road.”
In any case, people caught with marijuana who police find to be guilty of more serious infractions or who have outstanding arrest warrants will continue to be processed, McCarthy said.
“If somebody’s not properly identified, they can’t receive a summons, and if they have a warrant, they can’t receive a summons,” the superintendent said. “So we want to make sure we’re getting the right people. You don’t want to get the wrong people and put them in the system.”
McCarthy said he can’t concern himself with whether judges tend to dismiss petty drug cases. But he wants officers to be able to handle such infractions as quickly as possible so they can get back out on patrol.
"My problem is figuring out the best way to get those things prosecuted in an efficient manner so that I can turn my cops back around and get them back on the street quickly,” he said.
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said today that she’s asked Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy to consider not arresting minorities for low-level drug crimes.“I had a conversation shortly after the new superintendent came to Chicago with him about my views on this matter,” Preckwinkle said after the County Board meeting. “I suggested to him that - although the law is pretty clear that such possession is a violation of the law - since the judges routinely and almost universally dismiss such low-level drug charges that the police might stop arresting people for this since it clogs up our jail and their cases will be dismissed out anyway.”
She said his response to her suggestion “remains to be seen.”
"The city of Chicago is the principal driver of our jail population, so I’m trying to talk to him about the concerns I have about the way our drug laws are enforced,” she said.
In June, Preckwinkle was the only politician to speak at a rally that declared the country’s 40-year “war on drugs” a failure. Preckwinkle's call for more treatment and less punishment was in keeping with her statements during her campaign, when she often talked about diverting drug users into treatment programs. She said she is working with the courts, prosecutors, defense attorneys and the sheriff's office to find ways to do that.
Before that rally, McCarthy had said he understood the concerns of the organizers.
"It becomes the issue of mass incarceration," he had said. "And law enforcement has gotten this wrong. Narcotics use is a criminalized social issue. It causes crime. Drug dealers get into violent disputes over turf. It's about the money…It's been so twisted up that law enforcement looks at narcotics as the crime, when it's not. It's the cause of the crime. So, we've had this wrong for a long time in law enforcement."
