Marijuana Policy Project

CAMPTON HILLS – The village’s police officers now have the discretion to issue a local ordinance violation for possession of marijuana, drug paraphernalia, underage alcohol possession or curfew violations.

Amendments to the village code allows for compliance tickets to be issues instead of state charges, with fines from $100 to $750.

This allows a fine to be collected from the offender without going to court – unless the accused challenges the ticket or fails to pay the fine.

The board supported the recommendation by Police Chief Greg Anderson because other municipalities have similar ordinances, Trustee Albert Lenkaitis said.

“There won’t be significant revenue from the tickets – no,” Lenkaitis said.

“It’s bringing [the village] in line with other municipalities in the area. That was the thing. The bottom line is to stay similar to the other areas and not have large discrepancies.”

Sugar Grove, Geneva and St. Charles also provide for local ordinance violations instead of state charges for various offenses, according to municipal records.

Sugar Grove has first and second offenses for possession of marijuana, drug paraphernalia and underage drinking. The fines range from $160 for a first offense to $275 for a second offense.

St. Charles has a fine of up to $500 for possession of marijuana and Geneva has a $100 fine for underage drinking.

Village attorney William Braithwaite said many municipalities use local ordinances because it is more cost efficient for them in that it saves police officers’ time, when they otherwise would have to go to court.

It also benefits the offenders, he said.

“It provides a mechanism for minor offenses to be handled at the local level,”  Braithwaite said, “which is more convenient for the offenders, often juveniles, and most importantly, prevents them from having a criminal record. It allows somebody who has made one mistake of judgment to pay a fine and get the matter behind them. It’s taken care of and that’s the end of it.”