I would like to respond to the many comments and opinions from your readers regarding the proposed ordinance requiring the Santa Monica Police Department to make adult marijuana offenses its lowest priority.
The proponents of this initiative would like you to believe that this ordinance would, as they put it, “free up police resources to focus on serious and violent crimes.”But the truth is that although the use of marijuana by adults in a private residence is already treated as a low priority by the police department, this ordinance could actually further tie up police resources because it requires additional reporting by our officers and the department.
By making such incidents the “lowest priority,” this initiative would prevent the police from responding to investigate a community member’s call for service concerning the adult, personal use of marijuana unless there were no other law enforcement calls pending. This means any pending calls, including parking violations, would send a citizen’s legitimate complaint about the odor or visible use of marijuana within a residence to the bottom of the dispatch queue. I would like to provide you with a recent example of why this would be a bad idea.
While working patrol just a few months ago, I responded to a call from a Santa Monica resident concerned about the odor of marijuana coming from an apartment.When the first officer on the scene arrived, he approached on foot and observed a bag of what appeared to be marijuana in the back seat of a mini van parked in front of the area in question. I arrived shortly thereafter and observed an adult male exit the apartment where the van was parked. The officer and I detained the adult male and quickly discovered that he was in possession of a loaded.38 caliber handgun concealed in his waistband.
Further investigation led us to the discovery of 245 pounds of marijuana inside the subject’s apartment. It was later learned that the adult male had sold over 700 pounds of marijuana earlier that day for an estimated street value of over a quarter of a million dollars.
But that was not the worst part of this incident. Let me tell you about the conversation I had with the adult male’s 4-year-old niece. After she led us to the 245-pound cache of marijuana stored in the apartment, she told us that her uncle had picked her up from school earlier that day with a gun in his hand and several bags of marijuana in the vehicle. She explained how he drove around with the gun in his hand and made several stops throughout Santa Monica. Adult, personal use of marijuana is not entirely harmless; it still requires someone to deliver it.
Based upon the way this call was received, it would have been assigned the “lowest priority” had this initiative been in effect at the time of this call. Officers would have been directed to other calls first and may have been delayed several hours as a result. You may think the previous account was an isolated incident, but officers often discover more serious crimes when investigating the odor of marijuana.
Our goal is to provide this community with the highest quality of law enforcement services. It is our responsibility to provide a safe environment for our residents, business owners and visitors.
This initiative makes no sense from a public safety standpoint and it is bad public policy. We believe that it interferes with officers’ lawful performance of their duty to remain responsive to our community’s safety needs.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 10, 2006. Read the original PDF.