Bratton: City will defend officers on marijuana arrests
Azi Paybarah
Police commissioner Bill Bratton told reporters on Wednesday that the city is prepared to defend any officers who might be sued for pursuing marijuana arrests in Brooklyn, after the borough's district attorney said his office would no longer prosecute some first-time offenders.
“The city attorney has assured us that if the officers were operating within the scope of the law, which we would automatically assume they were, that they would be basically defended by the city,” Bratton said in Queens this afternoon.
Referring to the new policy from Brooklyn district attorney Ken Thompson, Bratton said, “it really does not change the working circumstances of police officers who are in the field.”
Mayor Bill de Blasio, an ally of Thompson who today called Bratton the “finest police commissioner in the world,” said he agreed with both of their positions.
http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/city-hall/2014/07/8548648/bratton-city-will-defend-officers-marijuana-arrests
