Thread by @MeganEllyia

Over the last few days I’ve gotten a number of threatening comments because I do not believe that marijuana possession should be used as probable cause for stops and we need to work to limit police/civilian interactions. Let’s dive into the data/public policy on this.

The thing is, the data and work around best police practices agrees with me. We have to start cutting back on the War on Drugs and the interactions it produces that fray public trust: washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-co…

A Harvard economist writes “But having more encounters with police officers, even with officers entirely free of racial bias, can create a greater risk of a fatal shooting.” nytimes.com/2015/10/18/ups… NYTimes: Police Killings of Blacks: Here Is What the Data Say

We are at a point where medical marijuana is legal in MO, and recreational will soon be available across the river. The number of people with marijuana on their person is about to increase exponentially. The question is, how will SLMPD change practices to adapt?

A Maryland court recently took up the issue and said that the smell of marijuana and possession of small amounts is not grounds for probable cause for search and seizure. npr.org/2019/08/16/751…

We already know that in our city blacks and whites consume marijuana at the same rates, yet black folks are 18X more likely to be arrested/cited than white folks. google.com/amp/s/www.rive…

The smell of marijuana is often used as probable cause for pedestrian stops, the constitutional version of stop and frisk. These stops undermine police legitimacy and, in turn, public safety. object.cato.org/sites/cato.org…

These types of stops also make it less likely that the community will cooperate with law enforcement, also decreasing public trust and public safety: urban.org/sites/default/…

When public trust is frayed, it is more likely that these types of police/civilian interactions become deadly. washingtonpost.com/local/it-made-…

Both @StLouisCityCA policy to not prosecute over 100g and my previously filed BB180, sought to decrease the number of police/civilian interactions because we know that is necessary to increase public trust and avoid tragedies like we had earlier this week.

The good news is, there’s a lot of data also on how to increase public trust and increase public safety beyond decreasing police/civilian interactions. insights.som.yale.edu/insights/can-t…

The other disturbing trend is the number of people who are comfortable with the government killing people without due process.

Personally, I don’t believe in the death penalty. I definitely do not agree with the death penalty for people without due process.

When other governments kill their residents without due process, Americans look at those countries as if they are less civilized then ours.

To be consistent we have to either take the position that governments should not kill their constituents w/o due process, or they should.

Inevitably, this bring us to “whataboitisms.” “There was a kid in the car at 1am” “he had a gun...” “so he deserved to be killed.”

This must be addressed too.

We are a city w/o body cameras. We will never know what happened in the interaction.

We are also in a state where body camera footage can only become public if an officer is convicted. Also meaning that in all likelihood even with body cameras we would never know what happened.

Missouri is also a state with next to no gun laws. Many of the folks saying #cortezshepard deserved to die because he had a gun are also the people who fight any kind of gun laws.

FOPs and POAs routinely support GOP candidates who fight all gun laws.

And the type of gun laws matter. Currently, it’s against the law to possess marijuana and a firearm at the same time. Again, with marijuana becoming legal, we need to revisit these laws.

A person who takes anxiety medication can carry a gun. Should a person who uses marijuana for anxiety be held to a different standard? These are questions, that don’t often have simple answers, that we have to answer as we start to end the war on drugs.

Instead, we need to focus on laws that decrease the accessibility of firearms, and require permitting, education, and training.

While also recognizing that neither gun laws nor drug laws will cut our violence alone.

Poverty/lack of opportunity underpin our violence and require bold and targeted solutions and resource allocation to address.

Our issues are complex. Continuing to pursue the same strategies is not the answer.

Fin.