--- description: One police officer in Seattle is responsible for 80% of pot citations title: One Seattle Cop Issued 80% of Pot Citations image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt42c22ffd8316dc9d/69869df1810bbb7b2bc92d4f/spd.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Lone Seattle Police Officer Responsible for 80% of City’s Marijuana Citations by [David Stout](/author/david-stout/) ## David Stout Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 31, 2014 4:25 AM CUT  Seattle police chief Kathleen O'Toole salutes during a singing of the national anthem with Mayor Ed Murray at her side on June 23, 2014 Seattle police chief Kathleen O'Toole salutes during a singing of the national anthem with Mayor Ed Murray at her side on June 23, 2014Ken Lambert—AP by [David Stout](/author/david-stout/) ## David Stout Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 31, 2014 4:25 AM CUT Seattle police chief Kathleen O’Toole has been [forced to reassign](http://spdblotter.seattle.gov/2014/07/30/officer-reassigned-following-investigation-into-marijuana-citations-2/ "undefined") an officer on her staff after the employee in question reportedly issued 80% of the city’s marijuana citations this year. Officials are investigating the matter following the publication of the department’s first biannual report relating to marijuana enforcement, according to a statement released by O’Toole on Wednesday afternoon. The Seattle Police Department report found that 66 of the 83 marijuana tickets issued this year was done so by a single officer, who at times would scribble peculiar notes in the margins of the citations in question. “Some notes requested the attention of city attorney Peter Holmes and were addressed to ‘Petey Holmes,’” said O’Toole. “In another instance, the officer indicated he flipped a coin when contemplating which subject to cite.” The police officer implicated in the incident has been taken off his regular patrol duties during the course of the investigation. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3061947/lone-seattle-police-officer-responsible-for-80-of-citys-marijuana-citations/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3061947/lone-seattle-police-officer-responsible-for-80-of-citys-marijuana-citations/"},"headline":"Lone Seattle Police Officer Responsible for 80% of City’s Marijuana Citations","datePublished":"2014-07-31T04:25:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:26:03.887Z","description":"Cop in question reportedly issued 66 of 83 marijuana tickets handed out in the Emerald City during the first half of 2014","url":"https://time.com/3061947/lone-seattle-police-officer-responsible-for-80-of-citys-marijuana-citations/","keywords":["Marijuana","Crime","police","Seattle","Law Enforcement"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt42c22ffd8316dc9d/69869df1810bbb7b2bc92d4f/spd.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"David Stout","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/david-stout/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt42c22ffd8316dc9d/69869df1810bbb7b2bc92d4f/spd.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Seattle Police Chief","caption":"Seattle Police Chief","creditText":"Ken Lambert—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3061947/lone-seattle-police-officer-responsible-for-80-of-citys-marijuana-citations/","name":"Lone Seattle Police Officer Responsible for 80% of City’s Marijuana Citations"}}]}] ```