Anne Arundel Drug Arrest Process

The typical arrest process for someone facing drug-related charges in Anne Arundel begins with the individual being formally arrested, put in handcuffs, and taken to a station by the local police or a state trooper. The individual is then formally charged and booked before being brought in front of a commissioner.

To better understand the Anne Arundel drug arrest process, it is important that you consult with a seasoned lawyer as soon as possible. An experienced Anne Arundel drug attorney can assist an individual in properly understanding their charge and how to proceed legally.

Beginning the Arrest Process

An individual is not usually given a summons before the Anne Arundel drug arrest process begins. Usually, those only occur for minor, low-level possession cases, like a citation for marijuana cases. In those cases, law enforcement will just take the individual’s information before letting them go and notifying them that a summons is coming in the mail. The individual will then get a date to come to court.

In more serious situations, the police will book the individual and bring them in front a commissioner. The commissioner will address whether the individual needs to pay a bond or not, and depending on if they pay, they may be released.

Typically, an individual is advised of their rights before proceeding through the next steps of the Anne Arundel drug arrest process. An individual could get what is called a “preliminary inquiry” date, which is to advise the individual of their rights. They may also receive a “preliminary hearing date,” which is when the individual carries a felony charge and the state has to decide whether to go forward off of the evidence and indict the case, or to dismiss it because it is not a felony and it was overcharged.

Determining Bond

The higher amount of drugs an individual has during the Anne Arundel drug arrest process, and the more dangerous that drug is, the higher the bond would be. This could escalate to the point where an individual may receive a hold without bond from the commissioner. At that point, the person would then face a judge for a bond review.

A bond is a dollar amount. That bond is the condition that the individual is being released on the payment of a set amount. As long as the person shows up to court, there is no issue with the repayment of that bond. However, if the individual does not show up to court, the bond money will be forfeited, and the individual will owe the bondsman the full amount that they paid to release them. Not only will the police come to look for the individual, the bondsman will as well because the individual owes them money.

Bond is just a way to ensure that an individual comes to court after an Anne Arundel drug arrest. If the accused individual is not from the State of Maryland and they are caught and charged, law enforcement is not going to be happy that the person is in the state doing felony business. Because of this, there will be a bond even on a first offense.

Multiple Individuals

If they find multiple people at the scene of an alleged incident, everyone is “busted,” and they find drugs, they can charge someone as a conspirator, someone that is part of a greater group of people that are all seeking to possess and distribute or possess. There is some reason to believe that people working together are literally working together. If an individual does not literally have the drugs on them, they are still at risk of getting caught because they are complicit with what is going on. However, it is the officer’s discretion if they find 10 people then they only charge four of five of them and let the rest go.

If they have been observing a group of people for a lengthy period of time, they may be able to distinguish someone who is just coming to buy something and use it recreationally from the person who is looking to deal it and make money off of it. Their hope is that maybe they scared the individual enough that they might not use again.

Gang-Related Activity

Gang-related activity is being prosecuted severely by law enforcement at the moment. The police have become quite intelligent at recognizing areas that are known for drug trade by gangs, and are looking to break them up as quickly as possible.

They do not want them reaching new areas, or even becoming comfortable in the community that they are in. Law enforcement will go out of their way to make sure that a gang does not get a good footing somewhere, and will attempt to break them up as quickly as possible.

Someone with an extensive criminal history that is known to be in the drug trade may not be arrested as quickly as a person may expect. Law enforcement may watch these individuals and see who they are associating with, especially if it is someone who has been in and out of the system for quite some time. Police will be interested in determining how these individuals interact with others when left alone in the trade.

Law enforcement may be interested to see who these people are talking to and why they are talking to them. They will want to determine if that person is dealing as well. Often, the police are going to want to talk to everybody involved, which gives them an opportunity to prosecute more people, especially if the investigation involves a high priority drug.

Law enforcement has become more patient in prosecuting these individuals because, ultimately, they want to remove these drugs from the street. This is why they have to uncover the people who are bringing these drugs in, not just the people peddling it on the borders.

When law enforcement does decide to prosecute an individual, all of the people at the scene of a drug arrest are at risk for facing consequences.