New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is expected to announce Tuesday that the city’s police department will issue criminal summonses to most people caught smoking marijuana in public—with the exception of parolees, anyone caught driving while smoking, and offenders with prior warrants, who will still be arrested, the Wall Street Journal reports. Recommendations from the working group formed by Police Commissioner James O’Neill will go into effect Sept. 1. Police will continue to arrest anyone caught smoking who has a “recent documented history of violence,” anyone on probation and anyone whose “smoking poses an immediate public safety risk,” a source said. Police can also arrest those who aren’t able to verify their identification.
The city is projecting that the changes will reduce marijuana arrests by more than 10,000 annually. The NYPD arrested more than 22,650 people for smoking marijuana last year. Summonses result in a $100 fine and require the person to attend summons court. Critics have focused on police marijuana enforcement. Marijuana-related arrests have fallen 32 percent over the past four years, but the department, City Council members and others have pressed the police after data showed 87 percent of those arrested for smoking in public last year were black or Hispanic. Police union officials, including Ed Mullins, president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association, said the change in enforcement could put cops in “positions of conflict” because smoking marijuana is still illegal. In May, O’Neill said that 36 percent of those arrested for marijuana offenses had no criminal history.