24 HOURS IN THE JOINT FOR A JOINT

On a winter afternoon, a 20-year-old college student visiting from
California left the Museum of Modern Art with a friend and walked into
Central Park, where they stopped at a gazebo near the corner of
Central Park South and Sixth Ave. She began rolling a joint.

She offered her friend some, but he passed.

"Before I could even finish, I saw two men approaching us," said the
student, who is back in college and didn't want her name used.

Something about the deliberate way they walked up to her told her they
were cops.

"I figured I would surely get a ticket instead of a lecture and having
me dump my goods," she said.

Badges were produced and handcuffs were slapped on her wrists,
beginning an ordeal that plunged her into the city's criminal justice
system for more than 24 hours. She was subjected to full-cavity strip
searches and forced to share cells stinking of vomit with addicts and
other suspects.

Eventually, she saw a lawyer, who explained that she would get an
Adjournment in Contemplation of Dismissal, which meant that the arrest
would be taken off her record if she stayed out of trouble for a year.

"Having been in custody for almost 24 hours, I felt it was an obscene
waste of time and energy," she said. "I didn't think I was a threat to
anyone."