Nov. 13--Aldermen on Wednesday called for a hearing to get Chicago Police Department officials to explain how they are using a city rule allowing cops to issue tickets instead of arresting people caught with small amounts of marijuana.
Ald. Ed Burke, 14th, and other aldermen are not seeking to make changes to the 2012 ordinance giving police discretion in cases involving people caught with less than 15 grams of cannabis, despite reports that African-Americans have been much more likely than whites to face arrest since the rule took effect.
In a news release, Burke said aldermen simply want to "see all of the statistics firsthand and determine if we have successfully undertaken what this legislation intended."
The aldermen's request for a hearing comes more than a month after the city released statistics that the Emanuel administration said showed police had made strides to correct the disparity in enforcement.
City officials recently said police are issuing more tickets this year than in 2013 for the offense, and that while only 5.5 percent of African-Americans caught with small amounts of marijuana got tickets in 2013, the proportion went up to 24.4 percent in the first nine months of this year. That compares to 23.8 percent of white offenders who got tickets from January through late September 2014, according to the city.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel said he was caught off guard by the aldermen's proposal for hearings, but did not oppose the effort. And he noted New York recently decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana.
"They never talked to me about this, but that said, there should be an airing and transparency of information, and they'll do that," he said. "I want more police officers on the street, less officers arresting for minor possession of marijuana, and I don't think it's an accident that New York just adopted what Chicago did about a year and a half ago."
jebyrne@tribpub.com
