The Texas Legislature passed House Bill 2391 and it went into effect on September 1, 2007. The bill modified the criminal code of conduct in Texas by giving officers the discretion on whether to issue citations or arrest suspects for violating certain low-level non-violent misdemeanor crimes.

The crimes affected include:

• Possession of marijuana under 4 ounces
• Criminal mischief, where was damage between $50 and $500
• Graffiti, where damage between $50 and $500
• Theft, where value of property stolen was between $50 and $500, or value of property obtained with a hot check between $20 and $500
• Theft of a service, where the value of the service was between $20 and $500
• Possession of contraband in a correctional facility, if the offense is a class B misdemeanor
• Driving with an invalid license

Prior to the changes, officers were required to arrest suspects for these offenses on the spot, and book them into jail. With the law changed, officers can ticket suspects instead, and order them to appear before a judge. This law enables officers to stay on the street more, and deal with more violent and dangerous crimes.

Right now, Harris County has decided to not implement these changes. Travis County is one of the few counties that have, and they are extremely happy with their decision. They estimated that it cost them $2,000 for every suspect they arrested for these crimes. It also cost them about 2 hours of an officer’s time; time when they could be on the street, keeping rapists, murderers, and other violent criminals off of the streets. Now it simply costs them a slip of paper and few minutes of an officer’s time

SSDP@UH is working in conjunction with the Marijuana Policy Project to lobby the Harris County District Attorney’s office to implement these changes. More details later.

4/16 UPDATE: SSDP@UH and MPP are close to figuring out exactly what we want to do. Once we know, I will contact all members of SSDP@UH and let you know how you can help.