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IL. - A pilot program in the Chicago Police Department's Shakespeare District is exploring whether cops can save time by processing marijuana arrests in their squad cars rather than in the police station.
The program, launched about a month ago, stemmed from a sergeant's proposal to raise money for city coffers by having cops write tickets for possession of small amounts of marijuana. Mayor Daley had expressed interest in the idea.
Police Department brass have not adopted Sgt. Thomas Donegan's proposal. Instead, the pilot program is based on a recommendation of a group of sergeants that studied Donegan's controversial plan and came up with an alternative that did not "decriminalize" pot.
"We're trying to streamline things and reduce the amount of time our police officers are spending processing arrestees," First Deputy Supt. Dana Starks said.
It works this way: When an officer in the Shakespeare District makes a misdemeanor arrest for marijuana possession, he or she fills out an arrest report and a more detailed case report on a computer terminal in the squad car.
The officer weighs the pot on one of the small scales recently provided to the district.
Then a police wagon shows up to take the arrested person to the station. The officer checks the pot in to evidence at the end of the shift.
It can take up to two hours to process a minor pot bust the traditional way - -- taking the suspect to the station and processing the paperwork there, officials said.
No Change In Prosecution
The department is studying whether the pilot program will shave time off the arrest process, Starks said. No results are available yet, he said.
The pilot program does not address the central issue in Donegan's proposal - -- that 94 percent of Chicago Police arrests involving less than 2.5 grams of pot were dismissed in 2003.
Donegan, fed up with seeing pot arrests dropped in court, claimed the city could have raised $5 million in 2003 by fining people for possession of less than 30 grams of pot.
John Gorman, a spokesman for the Cook County state's attorney's office, which prosecutes those cases, said no changes have been made since Donegan made his proposal in September.
"To my knowledge, we are not handling misdemeanor dope charges any differently than a year ago," Gorman said.
One Shakespeare District cop, meanwhile, griped that he thinks the pilot program might actually waste more time than processing arrests in the police station. Only one officer can type the information into the computer, while the officer's partner waits.
Starks responded that the squad car itself is a deterrent to criminals when it is parked in the neighborhood -- even if both officers are not filling out the reports.
Source: Chicago Sun-Times (IL)
Copyright: 2005 The Sun-Times Co.
Contact: letters@suntimes.com
Website: Chicago Sun-Times: Chicago news, sports, politics, entertainment
The program, launched about a month ago, stemmed from a sergeant's proposal to raise money for city coffers by having cops write tickets for possession of small amounts of marijuana. Mayor Daley had expressed interest in the idea.
Police Department brass have not adopted Sgt. Thomas Donegan's proposal. Instead, the pilot program is based on a recommendation of a group of sergeants that studied Donegan's controversial plan and came up with an alternative that did not "decriminalize" pot.
"We're trying to streamline things and reduce the amount of time our police officers are spending processing arrestees," First Deputy Supt. Dana Starks said.
It works this way: When an officer in the Shakespeare District makes a misdemeanor arrest for marijuana possession, he or she fills out an arrest report and a more detailed case report on a computer terminal in the squad car.
The officer weighs the pot on one of the small scales recently provided to the district.
Then a police wagon shows up to take the arrested person to the station. The officer checks the pot in to evidence at the end of the shift.
It can take up to two hours to process a minor pot bust the traditional way - -- taking the suspect to the station and processing the paperwork there, officials said.
No Change In Prosecution
The department is studying whether the pilot program will shave time off the arrest process, Starks said. No results are available yet, he said.
The pilot program does not address the central issue in Donegan's proposal - -- that 94 percent of Chicago Police arrests involving less than 2.5 grams of pot were dismissed in 2003.
Donegan, fed up with seeing pot arrests dropped in court, claimed the city could have raised $5 million in 2003 by fining people for possession of less than 30 grams of pot.
John Gorman, a spokesman for the Cook County state's attorney's office, which prosecutes those cases, said no changes have been made since Donegan made his proposal in September.
"To my knowledge, we are not handling misdemeanor dope charges any differently than a year ago," Gorman said.
One Shakespeare District cop, meanwhile, griped that he thinks the pilot program might actually waste more time than processing arrests in the police station. Only one officer can type the information into the computer, while the officer's partner waits.
Starks responded that the squad car itself is a deterrent to criminals when it is parked in the neighborhood -- even if both officers are not filling out the reports.
Source: Chicago Sun-Times (IL)
Copyright: 2005 The Sun-Times Co.
Contact: letters@suntimes.com
Website: Chicago Sun-Times: Chicago news, sports, politics, entertainment
