Massachusetts Law Enforcement Network

Massachusetts Police News, Information and Discussions on MassCops

Posted by: kwflatbed

By Rachel Fretz, PoliceOne editor

Americans generally have zero tolerance for drunk drivers. M.A.D.D., S.A.D.D., your next-door neighbor — nobody wants drunk drivers on the road, and stringent laws are in place to ensure this.
You have to go pretty far out of your way to bungle a DUI case — yet it happens far too often.
Earlier this week it emerged that Cook County, Ill., prosecutors dropped more than 50 drunk-driving cases — with a potential of 500 more — when it was determined that the officer had failed to follow protocol. http://www.policeone.com/officer-misconduct-internal-affairs/articles/1457061/
According to the report, the officer, who’d been previously lauded for his many DUI convictions, failed to do three legally-required things:
1. Keep the suspect under 20 minutes of continuous observation
2. Give him a field sobriety test
3. Warn him of the consequences of refusing to take a Breathalyzer test
It's vital you keep these three points in mind, or else you'll run the risk of blowing your DUI case, like this officer did.

Observation

Arbitrary as it may seem, this law is in place for a reason.
According to law enforcement legal expert Ken Wallentine, the requirement of observing the suspect/defendant in a DUI case for 15 or 20 minutes stems from a case addressing core requirements for admission of a chemical BA test.
Many - if not all - states follow what has become known as the Baker rule as the proper foundation necessary to establish the reliability of a blood alcohol level obtained from a breath test, according to Wallentine.
He said it consists of showing that:
(1) The intoxilyzer machine had been properly checked by a trained technician, and that the machine was in proper working condition at the time of the test.
(2) The test was administered correctly by a qualified operator.
(3) A police officer observed the defendant during the 15 minutes immediately preceding the test to ensure that the defendant introduced nothing into his or her mouth during that time.
“There is always the concern that a defendant will chew on a breath mint strip or consume mouthwash or some other substance containing alcohol and that it will skew the BA test results," Wallentine said.
The Baker rule, he added, requires that an officer visibly inspect the defendant's mouth at the beginning of the 15 or 20-minute observation period.
“Because this is a foundational test, failure to observe the defendant generally invalidates the breath test and does not merely impact its weight," he said. "If the driving pattern and field sobriety tests are not strongly indicative of impaired driving, losing the admissibility of the breath test can be the death of a DUI —aka DWI — prosecution.”

Full Article: http://www.policeone.com/traffic-pat...icles/1634975/

---

Posted by: Rock

MM1799,
Care to chime in on this one............

---

Posted by: csauce777

The fact is in this state, you can and will lose OUI cases even with a valid BT .08+. Anyone ever had an OUI bench trial in Wareham District? You never know down there.

---

Posted by: MM1799

Honestly, I have no idea what to say.
I mean for someone who was in the top 5 for DUI arrests in Illinois since 2001 (from the article) it's completely unacceptable (given this report is accurate). For those of us who make many OUI arrests, these things are second nature. Sure we check "am" instead of "pm" or mispell the operator's name but those are nonconsequential mistakes. To drop 50 (potentially 500) cases because you didn't follow procedure and made a mistake, or whatever, is ridiculous.

Also, to be found out on a RIDE ALONG? What the...
I don't know if any of you have done one (with the media) but their presence assures that you cross your t's and dot your i's. When I've done them, I kept in mind that they might be doing a story on OUI crackdown but one mistake and I'll end up in the next cop-bashing article.

I dont like to codemn other cops for anything but I seriously dont understand this. If anyone can explain how one FORGETS proper procedure -- feel free to enlighten me.
I only wish this officer the best and hopefully he'll rectify this problem, in the future, and again be lauded for his work.

---

vBulletin Copyright ©2000 - 2008, Jelsoft Enterprises Limited.
vB Easy Archive Final ©2000 - 2008 - Created by Stefan "Xenon" Kaeser