MARIJUANA GROUP WANTS TO DIG DEEPER INTO POLICE RECORDS

Seven city residents volunteer their time to ensure police essentially
ignore adult marijuana use on private property, a law overwhelmingly
passed by Santa Cruz voters in November 2006.

The group known as the Measure K Oversight Committee includes the head
of the local United Way, a retired state Department of Justice
employee, an attorney, a former downtown business owner, a retired
college instructor and a former journalist now working at UC Santa
Cruz.

The committee, appointed by individual City Council members as a
requirement of the law, met for the first time in September and
released its first public report last week.

The report indicates no missteps by police in busting people for
marijuana.

Out of more than 20,000 arrests and citations between December 2006
and November 2007, the report showed 387 were related to marijuana.
The committee has received three grievances from people claiming
improper arrests.

However, police say none of the marijuana arrests conflict with
Measure K.

Police contend all the marijuana arrests involved other crimes such as
domestic violence. Marijuana alone is rarely reason for police to
contact an individual, police spokesman Zach Friend said.

"Adult marijuana use has never been the most pressing issue of our
agency," Friend said. "Little or nothing has changed since Measure K
passed."

But some committee members are unsatisfied with Advertisement their
role, and would like greater authority to question police and look
more closely at arrest reports related to marijuana.

Arrest data is passed from the Police Department to Tina Shull of the
City Manager's Office. Staffers relay the information to the
committee. Committee members don't look at the specific police reports.

"We're just rubber stamping what the police and city staff have done,"
committee Chairman Larry True said. "We're taking the numbers they
give us and saying OK. I was hoping for more direct involvement with
the police department."

Committee member Eric Rice said he's not comfortable with the recent
report. He says the committee should be able to meet more often and
undertake their own studies into how the law is being enforced.

The committee is required to meet at least two times a year, though
they've already met four times. The council recently denied a request
for the committee to meet more often due to the time and expense of
city staff needed at the meetings.

"I feel frustrated because I'm not sure what we're supposed to be
doing and we haven't been given the opportunity or tools to figure it
out," said Rice, who works for the UCSC Office of the Registrar. "We
don't know if those complaints are valid or not."

Rice and True proposed expanding their scope of responsibility to
include undertaking studies related to marijuana offenses, spreading
public awareness to encourage more community participation in ensuring
the law's compliance and allowing the committee to compile all
marijuana arrests, citations and property seizures.

But council members didn't agree to the increased role.

"Frankly, I think the committee has a fairly minimal role," Councilman
Mike Rotkin said. "There's not much for them to do. Their job is to
make sure the law stays on track."

United Way Executive Director Mary Lou Goeke voted against Measure K
in 2006, but joined the committee to make sure the law works as it's
intended.

Goeke doesn't share the concerns of other committee members who feel
they should have greater responsibility.

"I don't think it's our job to comb through police records," Goeke
said. "We don't need to be tying up the police officers with
bureaucratic reports. Our police department is treating marijuana as
it should be treated."

Measure K was designed to make adult marijuana offenses the lowest law
enforcement priority for the city.

Similar laws have been passed in Seattle, Denver, Oakland and Santa
Monica as part of a national effort to eventually legalize the drug.

The law requires the creation of a group to oversee its enforcement
and issue a semi-annual report to city leaders.