Photo: Stanimir G. Stoev/Shutterstock.com. The New York City Police Department has announced that officers will issue tickets for most cases of public marijuana-smoking rather than make arrests, but the city's district attorneys remain divided on how their offices plan to approach the cases. Starting on Sept. 1 under the directive, officers will issue criminal summonses instead of arresting offenders. Arrests are not to be made unless the offenders are on probation or parole, have outstanding warrants, have a history of violence or if their smoking poses a public safety risk, such as smoking marijuana behind the wheel of an automobile. The policy change, which was the product of a 30-day working group that Police Commissioner James O'Neill formed last month, is expected to reduce overall marijuana arrests by 10,000 based on enforcement figures from 2017. Last year, there were 17,000 smoking-in-public arrests in the city, according to a news release from Mayor Bill de Blasio's office. When de Blasio said last month that the NYPD should stop smoking-in-public arrests, as he sees legalization of recreational marijuana in New York as a fait accompli, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. had already announced that, starting in August, his office would decline to prosecute public smoking and low-level possession cases. Also at that time, the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office, which stopped prosecution of low-level possession cases in 2014, was in the midst of a pilot program in which the office would decline to prosecute public smoking cases except in instances where it was causing a nuisance. On Tuesday, Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez lauded the announcement in a news release and said his office may go further and look for ways to vacate and seal thousands of past marijuana cases. The New York City Bar Association, which has called on state lawmakers to pass legislation to legalize marijuana for recreational use, also applauded the policy shift, calling it a “step in the right direction.” But the city's three other DAs, who have expressed concern about enforcing the laws that are still on the books, were more measured in their support for the working group's recommendation. In a statement released after the policy change, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown noted that no other jurisdiction in the United States that has legalized recreational pot allows public smoking, which he said can pose “public health and safety hazards,” and that as it stands now a small fraction of those charged with marijuana offenses receive a criminal conviction. But Brown said that O'Neill has chosen a “wise middle ground” with the policy change, as it allows police to keep a degree of control over the activity while sparing many from arrest. “These matters can be adequately resolved in the summons part without the individual being convicted of a crime,” Brown said. “While the means to the end may be different, the end remains substantially the same.” Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark said in a news release that issuing summonses instead of making arrests will address public safety concerns while sparing from arrest residents in her jurisdiction, who tend to be arrested for marijuana offenses in disproportionately higher numbers than in other areas. “As long as marijuana is prohibited by law, I will enforce the law because that is my duty as a district attorney,” she said. Staten Island District Attorney Michael McMahon said he opposes backing off full enforcement of the law against smoking-in-public, calling the shift a “unilateral policy change” that will “l ead to confusion, possible crimes and an assault on our quality of life.” McMahon said the issue is something that should be decided by state lawmakers and that his office will continue to prosecute the cases that police bring before it. “While it is important to bring fairness to our justice system, we must be careful not to let the city's new policies endanger the communities we are sworn to protect,” McMahon said.