LOCAL POLICE OPPOSE POT ORDINANCES

An independent group of Columbia police officers has requested the
help of Columbia's assistant city manager in overturning the marijuana
ordinances passed by Columbia voters in November.

In a letter recently sent to Assistant City Manager Paula
Hertwig-Hopkins, Sterling Infield, the president of the Columbia
Police Officers Association, asked Hertwig-Hopkins to endorse a
complaint to the attorney general's office to "stop this unjustice
(sic) and make things right."

Infield called the ordinance "poorly written" and said it adversely
affects local law enforcement agencies, putting personnel at risk.

Columbia Police Chief Randy Boehm said though the CPOA is independent
of the police department, the majority of Columbia officers oppose the
ordinances.

"I agree with (Infield's) concerns about the ordinances, but my job is
to make sure that we are enforcing the law as it is today," he said.

The city's marijuana ordinances allow for the use of medicinal
marijuana and lessen the penalties for possession of less than 35
grams of marijuana. Boehm said he opposes both ordinances, but said he
is most concerned about the reduction of penalties for
marijuana-related offenses.

"(The second ordinance) basically requires us to treat multiple
offenders the same as first-time offenders," Boehm said. "They would
only be subject to a maximum $250 fine."

Following the passage of the ordinance, City Prosecutor Rose
Wibbenmeyer deferred all applicable marijuana possession cases for one
year.

The new deferment policy states that if someone is convicted of
possession of less than 35 grams of marijuana, and are not caught
violating any laws for one year, the marijuana charge will never be
filed. Wibbenmeyer said she added the deferment because of the
ordinance's language.

Columbia attorney Dan Viets, the coordinator for the Missouri National
Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said though the
ordinance does not require a judge to do anything other than fine the
offender, it does encourage other punishments.

"The judge could order the offender to take part in drug counseling
and community service," Viets said. "(The offender) just can't be sent
to jail."

Infield's letter, which is posted on the forum section of the CPOA's
Web site, www.columbiapolice.org, has received some negative responses
from anonymous Columbia residents posting on the message board.

Some objected to Infield's claim that overturning the ordinance "would
bring a small degree of justice back to officer Molly Bowden and
officer Curtis Brown."

Bowden and Brown were shot by Richard Evans, a Columbia resident who
police said smoked marijuana before the shootings. Evans was cited
several times between 1998 and 2003 for possession of less than 35
grams of marijuana and the unlawful use of drug paraphernalia.

Infield said Bowden and Brown's shootings were not the main motivation
for this issue and that the marijuana ordinance was at the top of the
CPOA's legislative agenda when he became the association's president
in January.

Viets said he thinks even if the association gains Hertwig-Hopkins'
blessing to write to the attorney general, the law probably would not
change.

"The attorney general's opinion doesn't mean any more than mine," he
said. "It's just an opinion."