[Disclaimer: Due to my Department's restrictive internal disciplinary policies regarding their personnel's expression of personal opinion, certain details and aspects of my background have been intentionally redacted from this story.]

Criminal Possession of Marijuana (CPM)

Upon receiving some great productive feedback regarding my first article, https://steemit.com/philosophy/@ryanjk8/an-officer-s-take-social-justice-and-the-failure-of-quantitative-policing, I’ve decided to share some of my thoughts about legalizing marijuana. Thank you all for the comments, this article sprung from a brief discussion with @ekklesiagora. Stay tuned for upcoming posts regarding asset forfeiture and administrative subpoenas, @ericarthurblair, @andrarchy.

Although New York State and NYC have made incremental strides in decriminalizing the possession and recreational use of marijuana, there still remains one large hurdle. According to the NYS Penal Code, "A person is guilty of criminal possession of marijuana in the fifth degree when he/she knowingly and unlawfully possesses: 1. marijuana in a public place and such marijuana is burning or open to public view." This particular piece of legislation is Penal Law 221.10, known simply as "CPM" in cop-talk. And in case you weren't aware, CPM is still technically a misdemeanor in NYC. However, it is also true that CPM misdemeanor arrests have been on the decline in NYC recently, and I applaud that, especially considering the costs (both human and economic) associated with making these types of arrests. Depending on which side of the isle you are on, CPM can be considered a "Quality of Life" issue for city residents. What side of the isle am I on? Personally, I say scrap this aspect of the law entirely.

The “Misdemeanor Justice Project”

In a comprehensive study called "The Misdemeanor Justice Project" (1), conducted by associates and professors at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, the authors tracked enforcement rates for misdemeanor arrests (such as CPM) from 2003 to 2014, and compared them to enforcement rates of felony arrests during the same time period. They also compared said misdemeanor rates to the rate of "Stop/Question/Frisk" Reports prepared during the same time period (each report documenting one person stopped). This data is shown here:

As you can see, between the approximate years of 1990 and 2010, the rate of enforcement for misdemeanor offenses more than doubled. It is also extremely important to note the immense spike in stops conducted by the NYPD between the time period of 2003 to 2014. Looks funny doesn't it? Look closer and notice how the felony enforcement rate, which includes most forms of violent crime, stayed relatively constant between 2003 and 2014. If "Broken Windows Theory" were correct (2), then felony arrest rates should have shown at least a slight decrease during this time period of increased stop and frisks and misdemeanor arrests, since the theory states that concentration on low-level offenses has an ultimate effect of decreasing felonious (serious) crime. Of course, this also assumes that felonious arrests rise or fall in a direct correlation with the felony crime rate. This data shows no clear correlation, direct or otherwise, between stops, misdemeanors, and their affects on felonious crime.

On a side note, that spike you see in stops between 2003 and 2014 represents the height of quantitative policing, and it was during a time when “Stop/Question/Frisk Reports” (or “UF-250s”) were touted by the Department’s executives (especially Commissioner Ray Kelly) as a tool for fighting crime and collecting information. Rookie officers were encouraged and pressured to fill out as many UF-250s as they could to reflect their level of “activity”, and all pedigree information collected from these encounters were then entered into a central database (a move which was later reversed upon judicial intervention). As you can see, these stops had little to no affect upon the rate of felony arrest enforcement.

The Costs of Enforcement

Let's talk about the costs. The economic burden placed on our system by continuing to enforce these laws, albeit less stringently as of late, is simply enormous. Officer overtime costs, court fees, and other associated costs come out of the taxpayer's pocket. There is also the missed taxation opportunity to consider; legalizing marijuana would literally flood the state coffers with tens of millions of dollars (if not more) in additional revenue through sales tax. Let's also think about the human cost here; throwing the book at nonviolent offenders for committing victimless "crimes". It is also important to consider the trust factor between the public and the police in the USA, which is currently at, or near, an all time low. This type of distrust only serves to divide us, and arguably puts the lives of both citizens and officers in danger during every street encounter.

In my view, the legalization of marijuana would go a long way in helping to restore trust between law enforcement and the public simply by removing one of the most common catalysts for police encounters from the equation. And, as shown in the data above, heavy-handed enforcement on misdemeanor offenses (such as CPM) has shown little to no correlation to reducing violent felony crime. America needs to let this particular law go the way of the Dodo bird, so that police departments nationwide can focus their efforts more responsibly, most particularly on the deterrence and investigation of violent crime. On a positive note, and to give the City credit where it is due, there have been some recent changes made that have resulted in the replacement of the Criminal Court summons (“C summons”) with a Civil Court summons for most low level offenses (not CPM), the major difference being that if an individual fails to respond to the civil summons, a warrant no longer goes out for that person's arrest, alleviating yet another burden from an already ailing Criminal Justice system while also averting the needless arrest of a citizen for their failure to pay a small fine.

The author of this article is an active New York City Police Officer, currently serving the City in an investigative capacity.

(1) Misdemeanor Justice Project: Presented to the Citizens Crime Commission on December 11th, 2015 by Preeti Chauhan, Ph.D., Todd C. Warner, Ph.D., Adam G. Fera, M.A., Ervin Balazon, M.P.A., Olive Lu, M.S., Megan Welsh, Ph.D.

(2) Broken Windows Theory- A sociological theory in policing suggesting that sharp enforcement on low level offenses can decrease or combat violent crime in a given community. James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling.