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Mayor pulls ordinance designed to give police more discretion over minor charges

Posted by Dale Liesch | Jun 16, 2017 | Latest, News | 1 |

The Mobile City Council has cancelled a scheduled meeting of its public safety committee to discuss a proposed ordinance that would make the punishment of minor charges, like marijuana possession for personal use, similar to that of a traffic citation.

In a statement released Friday morning, City Council spokeswoman Marion Steinfels wrote that the committee meeting scheduled for 2 p.m. Tuesday had been cancelled upon Mayor Sandy Stimpson’s request. She wrote that Stimpson had asked the proposed ordinance be pulled from a future council agenda.

The legislation, which would’ve allowed Mobile Police Department officers the discretion to write $100 fines for minor charges, is not dead. City spokeswoman Laura Byrne said the administration is working with Mobile County District Attorney Ashley Rich on a revision that would look at the charges included in the proposed ordinance.

“We wanted to work alongside her office to make sure the ordinance was beneficial to the district attorney,” Byrne said.

Rich has not yet returned a call seeking clarification of her office’s involvement in the ordinance.

There is still some public confusion over the intent of the proposal, as well, Byrne said, and the administration has requested time to work that out.

In addition to second-degree marijuana possession, the proposed ordinance would give officers more discretion on charges of loitering, second-degree and third-degree criminal trespassing, disorderly conduct, minor in possession, public intoxication, public lewdness, possession of drug paraphernalia and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.

When the ordinance was introduced, Executive Director of Public Safety James Barber said the proposal would help keep officers on the streets, rather than have them transport a person to Mobile Metro Jail for a minor charge. Under the current law, officers must make an arrest and transport someone to the jail for one of these minor offenses. Under the proposal, an officer could write a citation for a $100 fine for the same offenses.

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About The Author

Dale Liesch

Dale Liesch

Dale Liesch has been a reporter at Lagniappe since February 2014. He covers all aspects of the city of Mobile, including the mayor, City Council, the Mobile Housing Board of Commissioners, GulfQuest National Maritime Museum of the Gulf of Mexico and others. He studied journalism at The University of Alabama and graduated in 2007. He came to Lagniappe, after several years in the newspaper industry. He achieved the position of news editor at The Alexander City Outlook before moving to Virginia and then subsequently moving back a few years later. He has a number of Alabama and Virginia Press association awards to his name. He grew up in the wilderness of Baldwin County, among several different varieties of animals including: dogs, cats, ducks, chickens, a horse and an angry goat. He now lives in the Oakleigh neighborhood of Mobile with his wife, Hillary, and daughter, Joan. The family currently has no goats, angry or otherwise, but is ruled by the whims of two very energetic dogs.

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