Bronx residents aren’t thrilled with marijuana policing changes

The Bronx is burning over Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plan to “overhaul” the policing of pot smokers.

“The regular people in the community don’t want this,” fumed Bronx Councilman Ruben Diaz Sr. to The Post. “This is ridiculous. We’re always protecting the criminals. We should be protecting the senior citizens and law-abiding citizens.”

The mayor announced this week that the NYPD, within the next 30 days, would stop “unnecessary arrests and end disparity in enforcement.” And district attorneys in Manhattan and Brooklyn have said they will no longer prosecute the majority of low-level marijuana offenses.

The pot-friendly policy shift comes as advocates are fuming about recently released statistics that show 86 percent of people arrested for weed last year in New York City were black or Hispanic.

But in the Bronx — where 86 percent of residents are black or Hispanic — not everyone is on board with de Blasio’s plan.

Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark stopped short of declining to prosecute marijuana crimes, but said her office supports summonses in lieu of arrests, to “allow the NYPD and the Bronx District Attorney’s Office to investigate and prosecute violent crimes, which are a threat to public safety.”

Bronx Councilman Fernando Cabrera, whose Bronx district is 72 percent Hispanic and 21 percent black, told The Post his “constituents expect [the] NYPD to respond to those who violate the law.”

Eddy Sandoval and Melissa Guzman, who were at the Aqueduct Walk park in Cabrera’s district with their 4-year-old daughter on Thursday, said they are among those constituents.

“It’s not good for the kids to see people smoking marijuana,” Sandoval said. “The police should do something about it.”

Local leaders say pot arrests are more numerous in the Bronx, and net more minority residents, because police are responding to the concerns of residents.

Joe Thompson, a community board member and former detective, knocked down “racial disparity” arrest stats, saying, “Unfortunately, in some of these underprivileged areas where there is crime and gang activity, there is going to be more police.”

Thompson, who is black and also heads the 49th Precinct Community Council, said he gets complaints of pot smoking in apartment-building hallways and stairways. “It impacts the whole area.”

Christopher Savini, who runs a drug-counseling center in the South Bronx, sees people toking in front of his building “all day, everyday. People are agitated . . . especially when children are on their way to school. You see a mom taking her 3-year-old and 4-year-old to day care and someone is smoking a blunt at 7 in the morning.”

Savini agreed with Diaz that marijuana is a gateway drug. “Nobody starts with heroin,” he told The Post.

Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., son of the councilman, disagreed with his dad’s stance that race doesn’t play into marijuana law enforcement.

“The data demonstrates an imbalance in justice, especially in arrests. The status quo has put non-violent black and brown New Yorkers, many of whom are first-time offenders, through the criminal justice system, with serious ramifications for their lives. It is clear that the situation needs to change,” he said.

Guillermina Almanzar, a 50-year-old University Heights resident, was concerned about public pot smoking, but doesn’t think people should be arrested for lighting up.

“Just [give] them a warning,” she said. “If you’re doing it, do it in your house.”

Another Bronxite, Jamie Morales, 67, said arresting low-level pot smokers is more trouble than it’s worth. “Not for a nickel or a dime bag,” he said. “Come on. That’s worth more paperwork than whatever the guy’s got.”