BRATTON SHOULD HAVE THROWN HER POTHEAD ASS IN JAIL

New York’s police chief caught a college student smoking pot on Wall Street, discarded her joint, but let her off with a lecture

New York Police Commissioner Bill Bratton was taking a stroll down Wall Street with his security detail Thursday morning when he got a whiff of some funny tobacco. Then he spotted a young woman of college age puffing away on a joint. Together with one of his officers, Bratton stopped the woman and politely removed the marijuana cigarette from her lips. Then he tossed the joint down a sewer. Although he could have arrested the woman, he let her off with a lecture.

Bratton said he let the woman off because he wanted to set an example for the officers of the NYPD.

NYPD has a policy of not arresting people who are caught with 25 grams or less of marijuana, but that policy does not apply to people caught smoking pot in public.

Here is how Bratton described the encounter during a New York Law School breakfast on Friday:

“Directly in front of us is this young woman, happily puffing away, on her way – with her earphones in and [with] her school bag — to one of the local schools. All of a sudden, there it is, that smell,” he said. I thought, “What the hell —8:30 on Wall Street? So my security officer came up on one side, I came up on the other and tapped her on the shoulder. I wish I had a photograph of that face. She instantly recognized me.”

Bratton then told the breakfast group that he suggested to the young lady that she might do better in school if she were not under the influence of pot.

Bratton also told the law students what he expected of his cops:

“If you’re smoking it in public we will potentially arrest you, but we encourage officers to use the scale they are authorized to use — warning, admonitions, summons, arrest if necessary.”

I can see several things wrong with this picture. First of all, New York City is not (yet) San Francisco where you can smoke pot in public and copulate in public parks with little fear of getting busted by the cops. As for the lecture, does anyone really believe that this pothead will actually follow Bratton’s suggestion? I’ll bet the commissioner himself doesn’t even believe she'll do that.

Bratton’s example sure as hell won’t deter any potheads from using marijuana, whereas an arrest and the resulting publicity might have served as a valuable lesson on the consequences of flaunting the law. And some of those young marijuana users who are not deterred because of Bratton’s lousy example will eventually come to the attention of his cops for using more potent mind-altering substances like meth, coke and heroin.

Then there is the example Bratton set for his cops. I think it was a piss poor example if there ever was one! This woman brazenly walked down the street smoking a joint for everyone to see, including children. Bratton should have thrown her pothead ass in jail for all bystanders to see what will happen if they smoke a joint in public. And that would have set a good example for his cops.