Published in the April 2012
Political Observer print edition

Prosecuting Prohibition
Inhibiting Deputies’ Ability
To Fight Serious Crime
~
Countless Hours, Valuable Police
Resources Lost Investigating,
Arresting and Jailing Drug Offenders

Arrests by Palmdale
& Lancaster Deputies
1081
Over Period Examined
----------------------------------------
Total Arrests for Drug Crimes
270 / 25%
-------------------------------------
Felony Drug Arrests
242 / 89%
------------------------------------
Total DUI Arrests
198
------------------------------------
Misdemeanor DUI Arrests
175 / 88%

LANCASTER - Each day, more and more Americans are taking their cue from not-so-distant U.S. history. As in the 1920’s with alcohol, The People today are concluding despite however noble the objective, our federal government’s prosecution of the drug war, now in its fifth decade, is a failed and costly public policy doing more harm than good.

   According to an October 2011, Gallup survey - the most recent by Gallup on the question – a record high 50% of Americans favor decriminalizing marijuana. In 1969, the first year Gallup asked this question, 12% of Americans favored legal marijuana against 84% opposed.

   The October 2011 data is historical because it marks the first time since Gallup began asking the question in 1969 that more Americans are in favor of decriminalizing marijuana than those opposed – 50% to 46%.

   Intent on taking a closer look at how prosecuting the “War on Drugs” affects precious police resources – diverting deputies’ attention away from pursuing and investigating crimes with a victim – The Political Observer conducted a review of daily arrest reports as issued by both the Palmdale and Lancaster sheriff’s station, and as posted at www.TheAVTimes.com..

   One purpose is determining the percentage of arrests making-up victimless drug crimes. For good measure, we calculated the number of arrests for the potentially deadly and reckless crime of DUI as well.

   The period examined begins with arrests made on Friday, February 2, 2012, through Sunday April 2 for Palmdale station, and same start date through Saturday April 1 for Lancaster. Each station failed to issue a report for one day during this period. The precise amount of time spent, in hours, by deputies prosecuting the “War on Drugs” - instead of fighting and solving serious crime – is not included in our examination.

   According to the arrest reports, over this period Palmdale deputies recorded 547 arrests, of which more than one of four - 152 (28%) - are drug related, and 102 (19%) are for DUI. Lancaster deputies made 534 arrests, according to their reports, of which 118 (22%) are drug related, and 96 (18%) are for DUI.

   Arrest reports do not include juveniles under 16 years old. Those arrested for disorderly conduct under the influence of alcohol or drugs are not included as drug arrests or DUI in our examination.

   Drug-related arrests – not listed in the Valley Press’ page 2 crime map – are identified in the arrest report by the Health & Safety (HS) Code violation listed beside the arrestee’s name. HS violations occurring most frequently include possession of marijuana: 11350, 11357; possession of marijuana for sale: 11359; transport, sell, furnish marijuana: 11360; possess a Schedule II, IV, or V controlled substance: 11377; and, under the influence of a controlled substance: 11550.

   Delving further into the information, The Political Observer segregated arrests for DUI and drugs by race, sex and day of week.

   Of the 152 drug arrests made by Palmdale deputies, 108 or 71% of arrestees are men, while 43, or 28% are women. One arrest report did not include the sex of the arrestee. Men comprise a larger share of those arrested for DUI by Palmdale deputies. Of the 102 DUI arrests made, 83 or 81% are men and 19 are women.

   Racially, Hispanics constitute the largest number of arrests for both drug offenses and DUI by Palmdale deputies, with the white second and the black third in both categories. Seventy Hispanics were arrested on a drug offense (46%) out of the 152 total by Palmdale deputies – 48 men and 22 women.

   For whites, 35 white men were arrested for a drug offense and 16 white women, for a total of 51 whites (33.5%). Black arrests for a drug offense in Palmdale are less than half the rate for whites. Black drug arrests totaled 24 or 16% (19 men and 5 women). Six drug arrestees are reported as “Male/Other.”

   Of the 102 DUI arrests by Palmdale deputies, 51 (43 men and 8 women), or 50%, are identified as Hispanic on the arrest report. Whites are 30, or 29% of the 102 DUI arrests (23 men and 7 women) and blacks total 18, or 18% of DUI arrests (14 men and 4 women). Three DUI arrestees are identified as “Male/Other.”

   Of the 118 drug-related arrests made by Lancaster deputies, 78 are men and 40 are women. Lancaster drug arrests by race are nearly uniform, as opposed to Palmdale’s statistics, with whites comprising the majority of drug arrests, followed by Hispanics, then blacks.

   Whites are 45 of the 118 drug arrests (38%) with 24 men and 21 white women getting hooked and booked. Thirty-seven Hispanics, or 31%, were arrested on a drug charge in Lancaster – 28 men and nine women. One fewer black than Hispanic were arrested in the period covered – 36. Of the 36 blacks arrested for a drug crime (30% of total drug arrests), 26 are men and 10 are women.

    Of the Lancaster station’s 96 DUI arrests, Hispanics led with 45 (47%), followed by blacks with 26 (27%), then whites with 24 or 25% of the total. One DUI arrestee’s race and sex is not listed. Of the 45 Hispanic DUI arrests, 32 are men and 13 are women. Of the 26 black, 15 are men and 11 women, and for the whites, 16 are men and eight are women.

    The vast majority of Lancaster drug arrests – 93 of 118 (79%) are made Tuesday through Friday. Monday is the least likely day to get busted for drugs by Lancaster deputies. It is the slowest drug arrest day of the week with seven, followed by Saturday and Sunday – ten and eight arrests respectively.

    The inverse is true for DUI. Sixty of Lancaster’s 96 DUI arrests (62%) were made on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays; 22, 18, and 20, respectively. As with drug arrests, Monday was the slowest DUI arrest day for Lancaster deputies with only 2 DUI arrests reported, according to arrests reports provided by the Lancaster station over the covered period.

    Palmdale deputies’ slowest arrest day for drugs mirrors Lancaster’s, on Monday, also with seven reported arrests. Unlike Lancaster, Tuesday is also a slow drug arrest day in Palmdale, numbering less than ten in the period examined.

    But like Lancaster, Palmdale deputies pick-up the rate of drug arrests on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. However, unlike Lancaster deputies, there is no significant drop in drug arrests on weekends, as is reflected in Palmdale’s higher drug arrest rate – 152 – when compared to Lancaster’s – 118.

   Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays are the busy days for DUI arrests in Palmdale, as in Lancaster. In Palmdale, 62 of the 102 DUI arrests (60%) were made on these three days. Tuesday is the slowest DUI arrest day in Palmdale – four – followed by Monday at ten, over the two month period covered in our review of arrest reports.

   Research California Health & Safety Code at www.leginfo.ca.gov/calaw.