Published today at 12:33 pm in the Dallas Morning News Mike Hashimoto discusses the possibility of implementing a pilot program in Dallas Texas, that would allow police officers to issue citations to appear; instead of making the standard arrest for a plethora of class A and B misdemeanor offenses. Specifically in regards to the possession of marijuana. Due to a state law passed in 2007 officers now have the authority to exercise this at their own discretion. However Dallas law force and officials have been reluctant to do so. Travis County Sheriff's Department is the one and only law force that currently has this policy in effect. Officials say that in 2012 alone 4,500 people were ticketed for marijuana possession. Given that it takes an average of 2-3 hours to book an assailant into the Travis County Jail the use of this program has saved the officers more than 11,300 hours of work. Allowing the men and women of law to be on the streets protecting the city from real crime rather than sitting in a jail house waiting for the kid who was busted with 2 joints to be put into the system. I believe that this article is meant for a variety of viewers but that Hashimoto intends it primarily for the Dallas Police force and Dallas County district attorney Craig Watkins (who currently has no statements on the topic.) Hashimoto argues that this policy could in turn assist the police and save them stress and man hours. I feel as if Hashimoto has a point and is credible in his most recent article being that Travis County has had a 90% show-up rate among those cited, instead of incarcerated.