DUI Blog Archive 1

ABOVE THE DUI LAW?

Posted by Jerry Wallentine on March 19, 2010

My father served on the police force when I was a child. While he enjoyed his service to the State of Kansas, he was sometimes appalled at the hypocrisy of some of his own colleagues in law enforcement. Some of his peers would regularly issue DUIS and then get drunk themselves and laugh about it while driving home! Don't get me wrong -- most police officers are honorable public servants, dedicated to observing and upholding the law and to protecting you and me... As with any group, though, there are, unfortunately, always a few bad apples.

What happens when a police officer is drunk driving? Many laypeople convicted of a DUI lose their job. Should law enforcement? Unfortunately, some cops who drive drunk don't lose their jobs, as cops!

New York, NY. March 8 - All of the 55 NYPD cops charged with drunk driving since 1999 pleaded down to non-felony charges and almost all of them remained on the police force. Although the NYPD can fire any cop "who causes serious physical injury to another person while operating a motor vehicle and is determined to be unfit for duty due to the consumption of alcohol," a news investigation reveals that officers accused of drunk driving often keep their jobs after pleading guilty to lesser offenses like driving while impaired or disorderly conduct. In Kansas, it is illegal to even plead off of a DUI to a lesser offense. A NYPD spokesman said officers convicted of felonies are automatically fired, but those who plead down or are convicted of misdemeanors can be punished with suspension, loss of vacation days, alcohol counseling, and probation. Several cops have been accused of drunk driving in recent months, including Officer Andrew Kelly, who hit and killed a preacher's daughter, Detective Kevin Spellman, who hit and killed a Bronx grandmother, and other cops who crashed into a Tiffany's store and struck a parked car.

Some cops accused of drunk driving, like Officer Donald Haines, say they're lucky they're still on the force. Haines-who joined the NYPD although he had pleaded guilty to driving impaired in 1998-was charged with drunk driving for jumping a curb in Long Island in 2007. After refusing to take a sobriety test and a chemical test, he pleaded guilty to another count of driving while impaired and was ordered to perform 50 hours of community service and pay a $1,000 fine. "All I can say is, I still have my job and I'm very grateful," he said.

Others, like retired detective Daniel Massanova, were unrepentant. Five years before retiring with a pension in January, Massanova pleaded guilty to driving impaired after swerving into oncoming traffic and colliding with another car, injuring two women. He refused a Breathalyzer at the scene and was later found to have a blood alcohol level of .11. "Two girls hit me. ... They weren't two old ladies coming home from BINGO, you know what I mean? They were out drinking and drugging," he said. "If I was such a bad guy, why did I work the last 2-1/2 years in the chief of detectives office unsupervised and alone?" he asked. "I had a couple beers in me and I'm the bad guy because I'm a cop."

On the most recent episode from Lost, Sawyer is a law enforcement officer. When asked why he became a cop, he said he was either going to be a cop or a crook, so he decided he was going to be a cop. Hopefully, there is a difference.

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QUESTIONS OF CONCERN SURROUNDING THE USE OF BREATH ANALYZER MACHINES...

Posted March 22, 2010

While breath analyzers can be a valuable tool in helping to identify and convict dangerous hard-core drunk drivers, they definitely have their limitations, and it's amazing -- and somewhat alarming -- to consider how these limitations can affect drunk driving arrests and convictions. One of the serious problems with these machines is that they identify not only the ethyl alcohol found in alcoholic beverages, but also many other substances which have a similar molecular structure. There are over 100 different compounds in human breath, and 70 to 80 percent of these will incorrectly register as ethyl alcohol, just because of their molecular structure. Diabetics and dieters often have acetone levels that are much higher than that of the average person -- sometimes even thousands of times higher -- and this may be read as alcohol by some breath machines.

The use of such products as paint removers, lacquers, cleaning fluids and gasoline can also produce a false positive, even when the user has ingested no alcoholic beverages at all. Tobacco smokers have very high levels of acetaldehyde levels in their lungs, and this also can register incorrectly as alcohol on breath analyzer tests and cause false positives. Dirt, moisture levels, and temperature variations can also affect how the breath testing machine functions. Interestingly, physical exertion prior to testing has been shown to produce lower blood alcohol levels due to the way breathing is affected. Another concern stems from the fact that some breath machines work on the premise that the cell volume of blood is 47 percent. In fact, this number varies from 37 to 52 percent, with women having the lowest volumes, and the lower the volume, the higher the blood alcohol level, and the more likely one could have a false positive.

In view of all these built-in drawbacks, it's especially crucial that the machines are properly maintained and calibrated and that law enforcement officers use the machines correctly. Research has shown that breath tests can vary at least 15 % from the actual blood alcohol level, and nearly one fourth of all BAC readings will come out higher than the individual's actual blood alcohol level.

The breath analyzer is indeed a useful tool, but these questions and caveats surrounding its use show that it is just that -- a tool -- and one that should be used with care by highly trained personnel who are aware of all the variables which must be taken into consideration.

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KDOT FIGHTS DRUNK DRIVING USING SOCIAL MEDIA SITES

Posted March 25, 2010

In Kansas, more than 120 people are killed each year as a result of drunk driving accidents, and the Kansas Department of Transportation is launching a new initiative to try to prevent these accidents in the future.

Recognizing that young drivers are an important target audience for warnings about the risks and dangers of drunk driving, and that they are also unlikely to be truly aware of the serious consequences they will face if they drink and drive, KDOT has turned to the internet to try to reach young people.

Two new videos have been released and are now posted on social media outlets like Facebook and YouTube, as well as on KDOT's own website, don'tbejim.com. The videos show what it's like to be arrested, the penalties they may face, and what will happen if they go to jail. The hope is that posting these videos on the social media sites will reach the age group that is more likely to drink and drive.

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SOBRIETY CHECKPOINTS: HOW THEY'RE USED AND WHAT YOU SHOULD DO...

Posted March 30, 2010

Sobriety checkpoints, or DUI roadblocks, are temporary installations used by police to catch drivers who are driving under the influence of alcohol.

At a sobriety checkpoint, officers may stop every vehicle or they may follow a pattern of stops to target certain cars on a public road or highway for the specific purpose of seeing whether drivers are impaired. These checkpoints tend to be set up at what are perceived to be high-risk times for drunk drivers: late at night, early in the morning, and on holidays such as Labor Day or the Fourth of July, when the number of drunk drivers on the road tends to be greater than usual.

At the checkpoint, an officer may ask to search your car. If they ask, it means they do not have legal grounds to search your car, and you may refuse this request.

If you are ordered to get out of your vehicle, you should lock the door behind you. If you are asked to perform a field sobriety test, such as walking in a straight line, touching your nose or reciting the alphabet, you may refuse. If you refuse to take these tests, the officer will have one less reason for arresting you if you are charged with DUI.

If you are asked to take a breath alcohol test to determine your blood alcohol level, you may also refuse this test, but because of Implied Consent laws, the consequences for refusing can often be nearly as severe as a DUI charge.

The Supreme Court has upheld the legality of sobriety roadblocks, but there is considerable debate about how effective they really are. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has concluded after many field studies that the use of roving patrols actually results in nearly three times more DUI arrests than are obtained through the use of sobriety checkpoints. Nevertheless, many police officers feel that checkpoints are an effective deterrent because they underscore the message that drunk driving will not be tolerated - and that you could be caught at any time, even in the absence of obviously erratic driving or other signs of alcohol impairment.

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Drunk Driving Articles Archive 2