NYPD arrests for low-level marijuana possession went up for the seventh straight year, according to advocacy group the Drug Policy Alliance, despite Commissioner Ray Kelly's order to officers to chill out with the pot busts. Arrests have dipped some since Kelly's memo, but based on the number of stop-and-frisks earlier in the year, the department's streak, which relies inordinately on the arrest of black and Hispanic men, lives on. The number to beat for 2012 is 50,684.
NYPD Made More Marijuana Possession Arrests in 2011 than in 2010; Illegal Searches and Manufactured Misdemeanors Continue Despite Order by Commissioner Kelly to Halt Unlawful Arrests [Drug Police Alliance]
Low-Level Marijuana Arrests Rise for Seventh Straight Year [City Room/NYT]
