Sentences with phrase «marijuana arrests»

A city spokesman said that low - level marijuana arrests had fallen by nearly a quarter since then.

Supporters of the measure say the current law unfairly affects black and Latino men, who make up 89 percent of marijuana arrests.

But the mayor said this week that more needs to be done to reduce marijuana arrests and target the racial disparity in enforcement.

The 21 police beats were chosen because they had about 150 or more marijuana arrests over the past 20 years.

«That began that precipitous decline,» in marijuana arrest over the last few years, Mr. Bratton said.

«Now that cannabis is exploding as an industry, we have to make sure that those communities that have been harmed and devastated by marijuana arrests get the first shot at this industry,» Nixon told Forbes Saturday at the Cannabis Parade in Union Square.

Lagunitas Brewing Company, in 2005, had its brewer's license suspended after police made marijuana arrests at the brewery in an event that has come to be known as the St. Patrick's Day Massacre.

Mayor de Blasio said the NYPD will overhaul its policy on marijuana arrests, but offered no details.

«Why is he still talking about the need to end low level marijuana arrests when that was one of the progressive commitments?»

Speaking in Washington on Tuesday, the mayor promised the NYPD would reform and overhaul marijuana arrest policies.

While marijuana arrests are down overall, prosecutors are still pursuing marijuana cases, although the Department of Justice focuses on priorities like distribution to minors, money laundering and growing on federal land.

City data shows marijuana arrests and violations clustered around black and Hispanic neighborhoods.

«Now that cannabis is exploding as an industry, we have to make sure that those communities that have been harmed and devastated by marijuana arrests get the first shot at this industry,» she told Forbes magazine.

Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson lauded the policy change, but said he was «concerned» that the new NYPD policy could lessen prosecutorial review of most marijuana arrests.

These included Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal's bill to add e-cigarettes to the state's indoor smoking ban, a proposal that would seal details of marijuana arrest records, and a bill that would expand film tax credits to more upstate counties.

The half - million marijuana arrests annually, constituting 70 per cent of all drug - related arrests, fall into the same category of «victimless crimes» which many reformers believe should be decriminalized.

And marijuana arrests already had decreased 43 percent under Bloomberg compared to the peak in 2011... While the number of arrests has decreased, the racial disparity remains high and largely unchanged.

Nixon said marijuana arrests disproportionately impact minorities and sparked controversy by saying in a Forbes interview that «people of color» must get first dibs at licenses for selling cannabis as a «form of reparations.»

At a recent City Council hearing, Queens Councilman Donovan Richards, chairman of the Council's Committee on Public Safety, pointed to the number of marijuana arrests under de Blasio and previous mayors during their first three years in office.

Elected officials, community members and New Yorkers for Public Health & Safety will march to Bloomberg's Upper East Side townhouse at high noon tomorrow to demand an end to «illegal, racially biased and costly marijuana arrests.»

Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth Thompson announced earlier this year that he would stop prosecuting certain low - level marijuana arrest cases.

And while his base may want more, Mr. de Blasio can point to several police reforms in his first year: a dramatic drop in the number of people stopped by police; a staggering decline in marijuana arrests thanks to a policy change; a plan to roll out body cameras in accordance with a federal lawsuit.

Supporters of the bill point out that since Mayor Michael Bloomberg took office there have been nearly 460,000 misdemeanor marijuana arrests, largely members of the black and Hispanic communities.

The mayor said that a reduction in things such as stop - and - frisk and low level marijuana arrests combined with new technology gave the police department all the manpower they needed.

Meanwhile, Mayor Bill de Blasio promised changes to the way police handle marijuana arrests.

Particularly on things like marijuana arrests.

Shea said the NYPD has worked to reduce marijuana arrests since de Blasio's 2014 decriminalization move.

Gangi slapped at de Blasio's efforts to cut marijuana arrests and hammered the administration on class size in public schools.

Although the order is written almost as a clarification, the widespread marijuana arrests have almost certainly been a matter of city policy under Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his police commissioner, Ray Kelly.

«The grandchild of stop - and - frisk is marijuana arrests based on race,» he said.

The statement comes as police are under scrutiny for other alleged abuses of power — police surveillance of Muslim New Yorkers, unwarranted marijuana arrests, and the pepper spraying of Wall Street demonstrators last weekend.

O'Neill said that over the past four years, top charge marijuana arrests citywide are down 32 percent, while the issuance of summonses is up 57 percent, and that overall calls for service from the public about marijuana are up 26 percent.

Speaking to about 1,000 people Nixon cast her support as primarily driven by racial disparity in marijuana arrests, declaring that «I want to do it first and foremost because it's a racial justice issue.»

The NYPD has been criticized for targeting blacks and Latinos when making marijuana arrests.

«Why is he still talking about the need to end low - level marijuana arrests when that was one of the progressive commitments?»

He also said that NYPD reduced marijuana arrests by about 38,000 since four years ago and that the city stopped arresting people for low - level possession.

The mayor cited a reduction in the number of stop and frisks and marijuana arrests as having freed up officers to focus on serious crime.

While marijuana arrests have dropped significantly since the mayor took office, 86 percent of the people arrested for marijuana possession in the fifth degree during 2017 were people of color; 48 percent were black and 38 percent were Hispanic.

The need to move sooner rather than later was obvious when a New York Times investigation this month showed marijuana arrests were almost exclusively of African - Americans and Hispanics, even though whites use pot just as often.

Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance's office is issuing new guidelines that aim to take a lighter approach on marijuana arrests.

African - American and Latino people accounted for 86 percent of the roughly 17,500 marijuana arrests recorded last year, Councilman Donovan Richards (D - Queens) said.

In a statement released on Tuesday, Mr. de Blasio said that his administration had taken «clear steps to reduce unnecessary arrests and strengthen our officers» relationship with the community,» noting, among other things, changes to the city's marijuana arrest policy.

As for the consent to search law, Bratton said the impetus for the law — stop - and - frisk and low level marijuana arrests — have both declined dramatically since Bill de Blasio became mayor and picked him as police commissioner.