Little Rock police have made more misdemeanor marijuana arrests so far this year than in any of the previous four years, and as of early November, have almost doubled the number of those arrests compared with 2012, according to department data.
As of Nov. 9, Little Rock police have made a total of 225 arrests in which misdemeanor marijuana possession was the only violation, according to police data. It's a 95 percent increase compared with the 115 arrests made in 2012.
Lt. Steve McClanahan, spokesman for the Little Rock police department, said it's difficult to point to a cause of why police have made more arrests in cases where misdemeanor possession of marijuana is the only violation.
"We're operating under the premise of Arkansas state statute which says that it is a scheduled narcotic and we can arrest for it," he said.
McClanahan said officers don't go out looking to arrest people for misdemeanor marijuana, but often find those violations during traffic stops or in the course of investigating another crime.
There have been no recent changes to department policy related to how it addresses individuals found with a misdemeanor amount of marijuana, he said.
According to state law, a person can be arrested on a misdemeanor charge for possessing less than 4 ounces of marijuana, and can face up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $2,500.
Little Rock police reported 167 misdemeanor marijuana arrests last year, 199 in 2014 and 154 in 2013.
Whether or not they spend much time at all behind bars, a person picked up by Little Rock police on a marijuana charge earns a trip to the Pulaski County jail.
Their fingerprints are documented, a mug shot is taken, and if the charge is the only violation against them, they are often released shortly after with a court date.
But the arrest can be enough to derail a person's education and thwart landing a stable job, said Omavi Shukur, an attorney based in Little Rock.
"The war on drugs is really just a war on the people that use drugs," he said recently.
Of the six patrol districts with the most arrests for marijuana as of Nov. 9, three are in southwest Little Rock, two in the department's downtown patrol district and one in the northwest patrol division.
District 91 in southwest Little Rock, the patrol area with the most misdemeanor marijuana arrests, 29, as of Nov. 9, includes the area south of Interstate 30 bordered in part by Mabelvale Pike and Chicot Road.
Other top districts for marijuana arrests this year include patrol district 54 that stretches from South Elm Street to South University Avenue, and district 81, which runs from Baseline Road to West 65th Street and from Interstate 30 and Chicot Road to the railroad tracks east of Jamison Road.
McClanahan said that an increased police presence could be contributing to the higher number of arrests in some areas.
In busy areas for violent crime and property crime, McClanahan said, officers focus their efforts on patrolling those areas, which could raise the possibility of coming across a person in possession of marijuana.
Patrol districts 53 and 54, which are among the top six patrol areas with marijuana arrests, have been target districts for the downtown division, he said.
"That could be because we have an increased police focus there, because that's where hot spots are and that's where we're trying to reduce crime in that area," he said.
Although there has been an increase in arrests in Little Rock, Shukur said the state is not seeing a big increase in drug use.
Shukur points to data that shows a 0.01 percent increase in illicit drug dependence or abuse within the state population from 2011 to 2013, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
While Shukur says the arrest increase does not match drug-use trends, it has had a significant effect on the future of those arrested.
He said a misdemeanor marijuana charge can make finding a job that much harder and can prevent a person from pursuing a post-secondary education. Poor people are vastly over represented in marijuana arrests, he said, and are often easier to convict than a person who can afford a private attorney.
One of his friends was doing well as student at the University of Central Arkansas after growing up in a poor family. His friend funded his education through financial aid until police found him with marijuana.
"Once he was busted for marijuana and those sources of finances were stripped away from him, he just simply couldn't afford it," Shukur said. "He had no social safety net to lean on."
A group of concerned residents, including Shukur, went before the city's Board of Directors earlier this year to encourage them to establish marijuana possession as the lowest law enforcement priority for the city.
"We had been experiencing, second hand, this increase and noticed the impact it was having on the community," Shukur said.
There's some debate within the group, Shukur said, about whether to bring a referendum to voters or encourage the board to pass a city ordinance establishing the low priority of marijuana possession.
The ordinance would not tie the hands of law enforcement, he said, but would hopefully encourage the police department to adopt those priorities.
"Our hope is that law enforcement will take it as a signal they should be accountable to the people they serve," he said.
Similar ordinances have been passed in Fayetteville and Eureka Springs.
Fayetteville's ordinance states that marijuana offenses related to adult personal use should be the lowest priority for the city's law enforcement, as well as the lowest prosecutorial priority for the city's prosecuting attorney.
"We know that the people of Little Rock are just as deserving," Shukur said.
Sgt. Craig Stout, spokesman for the Fayetteville Police Department, said arresting people on a misdemeanor marijuana charge was a low priority for the department, even before the ordinance.
The ordinance did not have an effect on the day-to-day operation of the department, he said, but it did allow the citizens to solidify their viewpoint in an official capacity.
Stout said Fayetteville officers have a good amount of discretion when it comes to dealing with minor violations, and have the power to confiscate a minor amount of marijuana without making an arrest.
Most officers, he said, are more concerned about going after more serious drugs like methamphetamine and heroin rather than somebody with a recreational amount of marijuana.
"Misdemeanor marijuana was always a low priority," Stout said.
In Little Rock, McClanahan said police discretion on arrests, if used properly, can go a long way to strengthening police-community relationships.
"We do have discretion," he said. "In fact, we encourage it."
A Section on 11/21/2016