NYPD to stop arrests for small amounts of marijuana

People busted with small amounts of marijuana in New York City may be able to avoid arrest — and get issued a summons instead — under a new policy announced Monday by NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton.

Bratton said the directive will go into effect Nov. 19 and will apply to anyone caught with 25 grams of pot or less, but not if they are burning or smoking the weed.

Other exceptions cover suspects with open arrest warrants, who are wanted in connection with active police investigations or can’t produce “proper personal identification within a reasonable time,” Bratton said during a news conference at 1 Police Plaza.

Bratton said the new policy had been under discussion for several months, and that he had informed all five city district attorneys and the police unions about it earlier in the day.

The announcement marked an abrupt about-face by Bratton, who earlier this year said NYPD policy wouldn’t change in light of Brooklyn DA Ken Thompson’s decision not to prosecute first-time, low-level pot busts.

In a statement, PBA President Pat Lynch demanded “clear and precise rules” for city cops, saying they will otherwise be “held responsible for a failed policy by a discipline obsessed police department and the multiple levels of police oversight it has.”

“We do not want police officers left holding the bag if crime rises because of poor policy,” Lynch said. “Writing a summons to someone who does not respect the law can result in a volatile situation.”

Manhattan DA Cy Vance hailed the move as “simply the right thing to do,” saying he supports further de-criminalization of pot possession, “even if in public view.”

“Short of that, this policy –- by diverting thousands of cases from criminal court –- will also keep low-level offenders, particularly teens, from an arrest and all its attendant consequences, including a night or more in jail,” Vance said in a statement.

Staten Island DA Dan Donovan Jr. said the new policy “should free up police manpower to pursue cases of greater magnitude while relieving some of the congestion in the courts.”

“My office will continue, through the work of the NYPD and my own investigative squads, to investigate and prosecute cases of larger-scale possession and sales of marijuana,” Donovan added.

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