Marijuana Malcontent-tion
Council members spar over issue of efficiency, jail space
by Jennifer Greenup
QueenCityForum.com Magazine Reporter
City Hall--Cincinnati City Council efforts to reduce drugs and crime in the city could be hindered by lack of Hamilton County jail space.
"We all know that we have a jail capacity problem," said Councilman Jeff Berding at the March 28 Law and Public Safety Committee meeting, noting that only the extremely violent people are in jail. "For ever person admitted someone has to be released, so we are not arresting first-time offenders," he said.
Yet this situation is likely to increase with the passage of the city's new marijuana ordinance.
The new law makes possession of 100 grams of marijuana an offense that carries up to a 30-day jail sentence. Possession of 200 grams carries a maximum sentence of a $1,000 fine and up to six months in jail.
"There were 4,100 tickets written last year, which means that potentially 4,100 people could be in the court system," said Councilwoman Leslie Ghiz at the March 29 city council meeting. She noted that police officers would also have to go to court more often.
According to the Cincinnati Police Department crime analysis report, there were 42,063 service calls in the first two months of 2006. 869 of these calls were Part 1 charges -- activities from auto theft to murders; 221 were violent crime charges and 2,237 were drug arrests. The new law will add time to the processing of offenders taking more of their time away from the streets.
"Most importantly, there is no jail space," Ghiz said. "I have talked to judges, sheriffs, bailiffs and prosecutors and, in reality, because of the jail space problem, this [law] will not be effective. However, in order to fight crime, we need to do whatever we possibly can to solve this problem."
Ghiz then echoed the sentiments of many other council members: If the new law has not had a positive effect in reducing the cities drug and violence crime problems in one year, she will not vote to renew the law when it is set to expire next year.
Councilman Cecil Thomas, who was a police officer for 27 years, introduced the ordinance saying that marijuana is very prevalent in the community, and officers on the streets need this tool to win the war on drugs.
"I don't expect the community to understand why this is critical as we begin to fight this war on drugs," Thomas said. "But I know this will be a very effective law."
"We want to have some control over the drug dealers who keep coming back to the same corner after getting caught with drugs," he said.
City Manager David Rager said, "The drug dealers know what quantity gets a ticket. So what they have been doing is putting on their person the quantity that will get them a ticket, and they hid the bulk of the marijuana somewhere in the neighborhood."
"We have drug activity going on at an alarming rate," said Rager. This law could have a tremendous impact on the drug trade in the city.
Some council members think that the ordinance will be bad for the city and many of its residents because it treats people with small amounts of marijuana the same as drug dealers.
"The risk of paying a high price socially is tremendous," said Vice Mayor James Tarbell. "A lot of folks who would be affected by simple possession are people who have no criminal record." He said that these otherwise law abiding residents could have a hard time finding a job in the future.
Councilman David Crowley said, "I think that criminalizing small amounts of marijuana is a step in the wrong direction when we have so many homicides and violent crimes. If we pass this resolution ... we are taking the focus off the major problems we have to face."
Hamilton County Sheriff Simon Leis recently told the Cincinnati Post that the new law should not cause any major crowding issues for the county jail because police could process and release most offenders giving them a court date. But individuals with second offenses are to spend time in jail under this law.
In 2004 Leis told the Cincinnati Enquirer that the Hamilton County jails were "exploding at the seams," and that within the past three months they had to release around 3,000 people because the jails were too full. "We don't release violent offenders," said Leis. But, for many others, he said it's a "get out of jail free" card.
Right now Hamilton County is looking into how to pay for building a $225-million replacement jail near Broadway Commons.
In the mean time the council is discussing the possibility of looking to other counties to house the city's prisoners with long term jail sentences.
"Butler County has about 330 spaces that we could use, and Sheriff Jones is probably willing to work with us," said Berding. He continued, "Whatever type of lease arrangements we make, it is only a short term fix."
In the mean time this ordinance may do little to keep drug dealers off the streets of Cincinnati neighborhoods unless the whole system is able to follow through with its punishments.
contact: jenniferg@queencityforum.com
by Jennifer Greenup
QueenCityForum.com Magazine Reporter
City Hall--Cincinnati City Council efforts to reduce drugs and crime in the city could be hindered by lack of Hamilton County jail space.
"We all know that we have a jail capacity problem," said Councilman Jeff Berding at the March 28 Law and Public Safety Committee meeting, noting that only the extremely violent people are in jail. "For ever person admitted someone has to be released, so we are not arresting first-time offenders," he said.
Yet this situation is likely to increase with the passage of the city's new marijuana ordinance.
The new law makes possession of 100 grams of marijuana an offense that carries up to a 30-day jail sentence. Possession of 200 grams carries a maximum sentence of a $1,000 fine and up to six months in jail.
"There were 4,100 tickets written last year, which means that potentially 4,100 people could be in the court system," said Councilwoman Leslie Ghiz at the March 29 city council meeting. She noted that police officers would also have to go to court more often.
According to the Cincinnati Police Department crime analysis report, there were 42,063 service calls in the first two months of 2006. 869 of these calls were Part 1 charges -- activities from auto theft to murders; 221 were violent crime charges and 2,237 were drug arrests. The new law will add time to the processing of offenders taking more of their time away from the streets.
"Most importantly, there is no jail space," Ghiz said. "I have talked to judges, sheriffs, bailiffs and prosecutors and, in reality, because of the jail space problem, this [law] will not be effective. However, in order to fight crime, we need to do whatever we possibly can to solve this problem."
Ghiz then echoed the sentiments of many other council members: If the new law has not had a positive effect in reducing the cities drug and violence crime problems in one year, she will not vote to renew the law when it is set to expire next year.
Councilman Cecil Thomas, who was a police officer for 27 years, introduced the ordinance saying that marijuana is very prevalent in the community, and officers on the streets need this tool to win the war on drugs.
"I don't expect the community to understand why this is critical as we begin to fight this war on drugs," Thomas said. "But I know this will be a very effective law."
"We want to have some control over the drug dealers who keep coming back to the same corner after getting caught with drugs," he said.
City Manager David Rager said, "The drug dealers know what quantity gets a ticket. So what they have been doing is putting on their person the quantity that will get them a ticket, and they hid the bulk of the marijuana somewhere in the neighborhood."
"We have drug activity going on at an alarming rate," said Rager. This law could have a tremendous impact on the drug trade in the city.
Some council members think that the ordinance will be bad for the city and many of its residents because it treats people with small amounts of marijuana the same as drug dealers.
"The risk of paying a high price socially is tremendous," said Vice Mayor James Tarbell. "A lot of folks who would be affected by simple possession are people who have no criminal record." He said that these otherwise law abiding residents could have a hard time finding a job in the future.
Councilman David Crowley said, "I think that criminalizing small amounts of marijuana is a step in the wrong direction when we have so many homicides and violent crimes. If we pass this resolution ... we are taking the focus off the major problems we have to face."
Hamilton County Sheriff Simon Leis recently told the Cincinnati Post that the new law should not cause any major crowding issues for the county jail because police could process and release most offenders giving them a court date. But individuals with second offenses are to spend time in jail under this law.
In 2004 Leis told the Cincinnati Enquirer that the Hamilton County jails were "exploding at the seams," and that within the past three months they had to release around 3,000 people because the jails were too full. "We don't release violent offenders," said Leis. But, for many others, he said it's a "get out of jail free" card.
Right now Hamilton County is looking into how to pay for building a $225-million replacement jail near Broadway Commons.
In the mean time the council is discussing the possibility of looking to other counties to house the city's prisoners with long term jail sentences.
"Butler County has about 330 spaces that we could use, and Sheriff Jones is probably willing to work with us," said Berding. He continued, "Whatever type of lease arrangements we make, it is only a short term fix."
In the mean time this ordinance may do little to keep drug dealers off the streets of Cincinnati neighborhoods unless the whole system is able to follow through with its punishments.
contact: jenniferg@queencityforum.com
posted by Queen City Forum Mag @ 1:15 PM
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