The Austin Police Department has effectively stopped ticketing and arresting people low level marijuana possession cases.
That decision came down from APD Chief Brian Manley months after Austin City Council approved an ordinance demanding as much. Heather Fazio with Texans for Responsible Marijuana Policy, other Austin area activists, and even city leaders collectively said its about time. Fazio said, the people of Austin have said they don’t want the city using its limited police resources on people caught with small amounts of marijuana.
Fazio wants APD to focus it time and energy on, “Real Crime” instead, pointing violent and property crime. She added people’s lives are being ruined by these laws, preventing them from getting a job, getting an educations, and leading them down a path modern society doesn’t want them on.
APD Assistant Chief Richard Guajardo explained what Chief Manley’s order would do to the department’s handling of these kinds of cases. He said, for most instances, people will no longer get punished for getting caught with small amounts of pot. But there are a few instances where an officer can still get a ticket or arrested, and that is if the situation is connected to a violent or major crime.
AC Guajardo added but someone get caught with a small bit of pot, what would happen is the drug would be confiscated, saying its still illegal in Texas. The officer would then have to write up a pot possession report, and if the person caught has commited no other crime, he said, the officer would let that person move along.
