IU police adopt new marijuana policy, end semester with zero possession arrests

Indiana University Police Department officers made no arrests for marijuana or related paraphernalia possession during the fall 2023 semester, reflecting a policy change from previous years.

According to IUPD crime logs, from Aug. 6 to Dec. 12, all incidents of marijuana or paraphernalia possession were either referred to university officials for review or remain open cases.

By contrast, in the 2022-23 academic year, incidents of basic marijuana or paraphernalia possession, meaning incidents that didn’t list other offenses like driving under the influence or resisting an officer, led to more than 20 arrests.

Committee recommends student conduct referrals for marijuana complaints

In a written statement to The Herald-Times, IUPD public information officer Hannah Skibba said the department implemented new policies in the fall of 2023 based on recommendations from the Policy, Hiring, and Training Review Commission, a group of staff, faculty, and students first formed in 2018 to review the department’s response to resistance, de-escalation and related training.

Between 2020 and 2021, Skibba said the commission produced a report with the goal of “continuing our efforts to professionalize the IUPD and improve community policing efforts.” The report, published in November 2021, included 19 recommendations.

Recommendation No. 6 tasked the police department to “Form a committee of student affairs, housing officials, student government leaders, and IUPD to develop a policy on how to handle marijuana calls for service to campus housing facilities,” with the goal of reducing or removing police involvement in these calls. The recommendation encouraged “diverting complaints on marijuana usage into the student conduct system instead of the default action of a police response.”

The report also noted that IUPD had already moved to “an agency that cites individuals for marijuana use or possession with a summons, rather than conducting an outright arrest.”

Skibba said these recommendations were implemented into IUPD policy in the fall of 2023 through General Order 2.2.5, which deals with search and seizure without a warrant. The policy states that IUPD will not use the odor of marijuana alone as reasoning for further investigation or enforcement action during traffic or pedestrian stops, as such actions may give the impression of a pretextual stop. Pretextual stops are defined in IUPD’s policies as “stopping a motorist for a minor traffic violation with the goal of investigating other unrelated criminal activity.”

Pretextual stops were upheld as constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1996 in Whren v. United States, but research has suggested such policing practices disproportionately impact people of color.

Skibba also pointed to General Order 2.2.3, which deals with alternatives to arrests.

The policy states the primary course of action for non-violent misdemeanor criminal offenses that do not endanger the safety of another person is a referral to “the appropriate administrative disciplinary reporting structure of the applicable institution,” – regardless of whether the offender is an IU student – alongside officers’ discretion to refer to local prosecutors.

An additional statement from IUPD provided by Skibba said, “Officers maintain discretion to include [marijuana] in their referral to local prosecutors. In addition, IU will continue to hold students accountable for misconduct through the Office of Student Life while also providing recovery support including substance use intervention and counseling resources."

Prosecutions for marijuana violations decline

Jeff Kehr, chief deputy prosecutor for the Monroe County Prosecutor’s Office, said as of Dec. 14, the office has filed 27 cases from IUPD where possession of marijuana was the lead count in 2023. In 2022, Kehr said the office filed 58 cases.

The Texas A&M Police Department announced a similar change to departmental policy in August of this year. According to KBTX, UPD Chief Mike Johnson notified the Texas A&M Board of Regents in August that police would no longer arrest those found in possession of marijuana if the amount was less than two ounces and the offender was non-violent. Offenders would instead have the drug confiscated and cases would be brought to the county attorney for review.

Johnson said the policy came about through conversations with the county attorney in an effort to free up officers and reduce criminal charges for students who come from out of state, where marijuana may be medically or recreationally legal.

According to the IU Office of Admissions, 41% of the 2023 freshman class came from out of state. The most common states of origin for out-of-state students are Illinois, New Jersey, California and Ohio – four states where marijuana is recreationally legal (Ohio voted to legalize marijuana in November of this year, with the law taking effect on Dec. 7). Skibba said IU’s out-of-state student population was not a factor in adopting the policy.

IUPD’s public safety policies can be viewed online at protect.iu.edu/iu-police-department/.

Reach Brian Rosenzweig at brian@heraldt.com.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Indiana University police make no marijuana possession arrests in fall