Police try booking pot busts in squad car

BY FRANK MAIN
Chicago Sun-Times

A pilot program in the Chicago Police Department's Shakespeare District is exploring whether cops can save time by processing marijuana arrests in their squad cars rather than in the police station.

"We're trying to streamline things and reduce the amount of time our police officers are spending processing arrestees," First Deputy Supt. Dana Starks said.

It works this way: When an officer in the Shakespeare District makes a misdemeanor arrest for marijuana possession, he or she fills out an arrest report and a more detailed case report on a computer terminal in the squad car.

The officer weighs the pot on one of the small scales recently provided to the district.

Then a police wagon shows up to take the arrested person to the station. The officer checks the pot in to evidence at the end of the shift.