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Friday, May 24, 2013

New State Law Will Impact Police, Suspects; Some Offenses Now Could Now Result In Citations, Not Arrests

OCEAN CITY -- With the arrival of another summer season and the pending invasion of the June Bugs, Ocean City will certainly see a spike in the number of lower level crimes, such as simple marijuana possession and disorderly conduct, for example, but the resort’s holding cells will not likely be filled with young revelers on most nights.

A change in Maryland law that took effect on Jan. 1 allows law enforcement officers in Ocean City and across the state to issue criminal citations instead of arrests. The intent is to streamline the booking process and keep officers on the street instead of spending hours filling out paperwork and processing defendants charged with certain simple offenses that traditionally have been arrestable offenses.

While the change has been in effect for months, perhaps nowhere in Maryland will it be tested more than in Ocean City in the coming weeks when thousands of high school seniors, college students and summer workers descend on the resort. With them comes a traditional spike in the number of low-level crimes.

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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hell , I new this was coming , New York you only get 5 years for first murder , get a ticket for heroin or meth on your person.
Other countries life in prison , or death by be-heading.
No wonder everyone wants to come here.

Anonymous said...

The flood gates of paper work is about to flow people! Get ready for a hectic year in 2014!

Anonymous said...

Purely part of O'Malley's globalists bosses planned demise of everything good this state and country stood for.