Journal Reporter

While the City of Chicago considers reducing its penalty for marijuana possession, its neighbor, the Village of Niles, has enjoyed a relaxed marijuana policy since the 1960s that local law enforcement finds suitable for the community.

Established in 1965, the ordinance states that an officer can issue someone a ticket for possession of less than 10 grams of any substance containing marijuana.

This village ordinance ticket carries a $50 fine and a trip before the Niles Adjudication Board, presided over by Village Attorney Joe Annunzio.

While to some the small fine resembles a parking ticket -- and like a parking ticket it can remain off a permit record, Annunzio believes his Adjudication Board helps prevent further incidents. A teenager, younger than 18, who is nabbed with marijuana and issued a ticket must appear before Annunzio. The teenager is also required to bring his or her parents.

Annunzio said that often the fine will remain, otherwise an offender is given community service or referred to the village's Family Services Department.

Niles Police Chief Dean Strzelecki believes the penalties, whether fines or community services, are effective.

"Sometimes the courts will look at small amounts and just let people go," he explained. "If we were to arrest and bring to court all these small violations we would probably be inundated with misdemeanor complaints."

While the ordinance says a fine will be applied for possession of less than 10 grams, Strzelecki indicated that issuing the penalty is truly a police officer's discretion.

Head of the department's patrol division, Commander Daniel Halley, who works daily with patrol officers, said that an officer must believe the marijuana is for personal use only -- maybe a "joint" or more, he explained -- before a cop issues the ticket. This policy also applies when someone is caught with drug paraphernalia, which is the means an individual uses to smoke marijuana.

"If it's a kid doing something stupid for the first time, you see his background and good demeanor, then you probably issue a ticket and then the parents have to come to the adjudication hearing," Halley said.

If a cop issues an adult the ticket the same process applies, officials said, although someone over 18 mustn't notify his or her parents.

Even with the almost 40-year-old ordinance, an officer can still circumvent the policy and send a suspect directly to the state's attorney. The suspect is then arrested, finger-printed, issued bond and a court date -- just as Chicago does.

This is the process when someone has a controlled substance like cocaine or heroin, Halley said. The village ordinance does not apply to "harder" drugs, officials explained.

"Cocaine or any of that stuff and you're coming right in," Halley remarked.

As authority figures, Strzelecki and Halley support the village's stance on marijuana. Beyond being a cop and knowing that fining and not jailing small marijuana infractions helps keep the system more fluid, Halley, as a father, finds even greater worth in the policy.

"When it happens mom and dad figure it out and they can handle it," he said. "Years later [the teen] might see it as a positive thing."