By popular demand, on December 2, 2003, the City Council passed Ordinance No. 18136 that, among other things, prohibits possession of controlled substances and paraphernalia. The ordinance was published and took effect on December 10, 2003. Minor possession and paraphernalia cases can now be prosecuted in municipal court.

The ordinance basically allows prosecution of any drug crime that state law makes a misdemeanor (except abusing toxic vapors ("huffing") in violation of K.S.A. 65-4165, which the legislature passed after the city ordinance was drafted). A copy of the provisions of the ordinance is attached.

Officers can make a custodial arrest on City drug charges citing § 50-63 of the city code, but it is not necessary to do so. Persons who possess prohibited substances can be cited and released pursuant to § 50-58 of the city code and K.S.A. 22-2408, see State v. Wright, 26 Kan.App.2d 879, 995 P.2d 416 (2000). If you do issue a citation, please include basic facts on the back of the citation such as the type of drug seized, where it was seized from, etc. You must complete an offense report and supplemental report and include whether a field test was performed. Prosecutors frequently are forced to deal with people who are not scheduled for a court hearing, and oftentimes the citation is the only information we have at our disposal.

Of course, the contraband should be seized and held as evidence pursuant to K.S.A. 22-2512(1). Fines and sentences will vary depending on criminal history. Court costs for any possession or paraphernalia violation will be $119.00. Officers will complete an Evidence Custody Receipt, place all evidence in Property, and mark the Evidence Custody Receipt "HOLD".

Because we expect a large number of these cases to involve first offenders who will be diversion eligible, we are requesting that the contraband not be immediately sent to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation for testing (although officers should continue field testing the substances as they currently do). If the case is set for trial, we will notify the issuing officer to have the substance tested at that time. In your narrative reports, please indicate whether a field test was done on the substance. At that time Officers should request the evidence be tested by the KBI.

Once again I caution officers to avoid splitting charges between municipal and district court. If you have one state charge, send the whole case to the District Attorney's Office. Failure to do so could lead to dismissal of charges because of the compulsory joinder doctrine. Also, if you run a criminal history check and the person has a prior narcotics arrest, assume that the person was convicted of the charge and treat them as felony offenders to be prosecuted by the District Attorney's Office.

Please advise if you have any questions about this bulletin.