GLITCH BLAMED FOR RISE IN POT-POSSESSION REPORTS

A Glitch in the Seattle Police Computer System Last Year Routed Nearly
Three Times As Many Pot-Possession Reports to City Attorney Pete
Holmes As the Year Before.

The jump wasn't a matter of a changed focus by the department, said
Sgt. Sean Whitcomb, a spokesman for the Seattle Police Department
(SPD). Police are continuing to make pot their lowest priority,
Whitcomb said. And the department says its officers made no arrests
last year in which marijuana possession was the only charge.

Holmes campaigned for city attorney on the promise of not prosecuting
marijuana-possession cases. Of the nearly 300 reports Holmes' office
received in 2010, the office filed only one case, which "accidentally
got through," according to the office's annual report, presented to
the City Council Public Safety Committee on Wednesday.

The Police Department's old paper system relied on officer discretion,
Whitcomb said, while the new one passes all the reports along,
resulting in a stack-up of marijuana-possession reports. SPD is trying
to fix the computer system, he said.

Fewer than 130 reports made it to the City Attorney's Office in both
2008 and 2009, with more than 70 cases filed each of those years by
Holmes' predecessor, Tom Carr.

"It's almost an artificial jump, as far as there's no SPD drive to
look for marijuana cases. We have plenty of things to keep us busy,"
Whitcomb said.

Holmes said his office had been working with police to reconcile the
data, but had been unable to agree on numbers before the city
attorney's annual report was published. He said he doesn't think the
police are arresting three times as many people for marijuana
possession, but some officers may not agree with the city attorney's
position not to prosecute marijuana-possession cases.

"There may be some push-back from individual officers, but that
doesn't explain all the numbers," Holmes said.

Seattle voters in 2003 passed Initiative 75, which made marijuana
intended for adult personal use the city's lowest law-enforcement priority.

"[Marijuana possession] is not something we look for, but when we find
it, it is still technically a law violation," Whitcomb said.

Holmes also emphasized that although he has declined to prosecute
marijuana-possession cases, it remains a state and federal crime.

"We don't want a banner across the city saying 'marijuana is legal
here,' because it isn't," Holmes said. "We don't want people blowing
smoke in officers' faces."

There were 75 reports of marijuana possession to the city attorney in
the first half of this year, Holmes said. That puts police on track
for a drop in reported cases from 2010.