Starting Monday, July 1, San Antonio PD and Bexar County Sheriff’s department will start issuing citations for small amounts of pot possession.
People caught with misdemeanor amounts of marijuana possession, misdemeanor theft, driving with an invalid license, and criminal mischief will be eligible for the cite and release program within San Antonio and Bexar County. This will place violators with a citation instead of sending them to the Bexar County jail. What SAPD and Bexar County Sheriff’s Office hope to achieve with this change is to keep officers and deputies on the streets, so they can respond to and try to prevent more serious crime.
SAPD Chief William McManus told KABB Fox San Antonio that half of the cite and release eligible arrests SAPD has made in the past five years have been marijuana possession, where the suspect had less than two ounces of pot.
According to Chief McManus, the SAPD policy is a little different than the ones in Austin or Dallas, which he claims have not necessarily been successful. This new policy will also allow people who have been caught under one of these offenses to avoid having a criminal record, which in turn can make finding and keeping employment easier, especially for minorities and individuals in poorer communities.
But it should be noted as Heather Fazio of Texans for Responsible Marijuana Policy stated on Facebook, “It’s important to note, these folks will still face all of the same criminal penalties currently on the books. The only difference here is that they won’t be arrested on the spot. Instead, they will be issued a citation and a summons for a court date, at which point they will be formally charged with the crime. If convicted, the individual will face a lifetime of collateral consequences as a result of the drug offense. It’s time to eliminate criminal penalties for low-level marijuana possession in Texas.”
San Antonio is the fourth city in Texas to adopt a similar program