D-riving W-hile I-gnorant, a countybear rant.

[countybear]

The national average statistically has been teetering around 40%. The number annually; around 17,000 nationwide. In 2006, it was 17,602. These are the statistics on alcohol-related fatal crashes. Those inolving a driver .08g% or greater BAC in 2006 was 15,121, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Numbers do not mean much in and of themselves to the layman observer. I don't pretend to impress anyone here with them, just cite them as factual. What do they mean, really? Remember that these are the ones who actually killed somebody. Some poor human being had to die in order to be a part of this exclusive membership. Some poor family had to bury them. Some kid lost his mom, some mom lost her kid, and the list goes on. Somewhere between MADD, and DAMM, there is reason, and that is unfortunately the silent majority. For every drunk who kills, there are literally millions who don't, by luck, by blessing of The Almighty, or by simple circumstance. I'll venture to say that its through no fault of their own in trying.

Alcohol is actually a part of the culture in my home State, and truthfully it is in America, generally speaking. Any of us who work in law enforcement on the streets certainly see it up close and personal. Alcohol's involvment in crime, domestic dischord, waste and degradation of lifestyles, not to mention its ripple effects through supplanting of the better judgement of its abusers. It is without a doubt, America's "drug of choice".

Let me first say this, I am not anti-alcohol. I am, however, anti-public drunk, anti-drunk driver, and anti-the-stupidity-that-usually-accompanies-anyone-not-in-control-of-themselves-much-like-drunks. I consider anyone who is not in control of themselves, (regardless of the cause) to be in need of recapturing their dignity, and I will usually help them do that through a sobering exchange with the reality of my job. I still lock up public drunks, because it is against the law and it remains my job to do so. I don't often just give them a ride home, because if they had wanted to be there, they would have been and I wouldn't have had a usual occasion to deal with them in the first place. My marked unit isn't yellow, and no where are there any references to "tipsy taxi" emblazoned on it. Are they hoarding my time better spent finding "real" criminals like burglars? Yes, but that is their fault, it's certainly not mine.

Truth is, it simply creates an impending core meltdown in me to see the often intentional ignorance of the 'astute elite' when it comes to alcoholics (whether chronic or acute), especially when behind the wheel of a machine that they cannot possibly control any more than they can themselves. And some of our most vile drunks, our own legislators, seem to have missed the boat entirely when it comes to curbing the problem, perhaps that is because they are such a part of it themselves. If you ever want to look into interesting facts, see how many legislators are firmly entrenched in brewers and distilleries as part of their investment portfolios. I'm sure you will no longer wonder why the tobacco industry and the gunmakers have become the whipping boys for legislative self-righteousness.

Our prosecutors often celebrate a crucial case verdict by going out for drinks, then driving home blitzed afterward. Thank you, counselor for taking that violent asshole off of the street, and putting your sorry indiscriminately stupid ass on it. Of course, you aren't worried about driving impared, who's going to prosecute you for it, you, or your best friend that works with you?

We've raised the drinking age, we've lowered allowable driver's BAC, but the backlash is long and distinguished, just as with anti-gunners, we are making more things illegal while not focusing upon enforcement and penalties for the illegalities which already exist on the books.
Ten-page DWI reports, two/+ hour booking times, and supervisors who scratch their heads having to cover calls in your zone aren't condusive to aggressive DWI enforcement, but hey, we'll make an exception when you tear something up that belongs to someone else, right?

The national loophole for DUI/DWI is a wide and gaping one, namely the refusal of police intoxilizer testing. Without authoritative BAC testing, the burden of proof squarely rests on the testimony of the officer, which is often impuned by razor-tongued lawyers who themselves drove their Beemers at a .14 or greater the Saturday night before the trial. They slap the judges on the back and buy them a beer at the country club with regularity, while the poor-ass cop can't afford a membership in that ilk. Unfortunately, a cop's testimony about a drunk gets robotic, because drunks tend to smell, talk, walk, stumble, stagger, slur, amble, ramble, threaten, cry, mumble, vomit, piss themselves, pass out, and sleep in a similar fashion. Tired of hearing me explain how a drunk acts? I know I am.

I once asked a "pubic" defender if he could walk into a bar, survey the patrons there, and tell if there were any drunks there. He answered, "well sure!" My reply to him was, then why in the hell do you think that someone with 10 years dealing with drunks cannot tell one when he sees and smells them? If they aren't type II diabetics, then drunk is all they can be at that point, your honor. Perhaps I should just bring an Accu-check machine with me to rule out any other possibilities. I'll call my program, "prick-a-prick", and if they don't have a 300+ blood glucose, then I'll book them for DWI. Now, we have created an even more sublime animal for law enforcement, the Drug Recognition Expert. I'm sure in time, we'll just have to show our PhD's instead of badges and commissions at the door to convict our next drunk and disorderly. And what are the chances anyway, that the guy I stopped actually left a bar sober as Mother Ann, and just before I met him he was bitten by the dreaded Tse-Tse fly, falling ill with a case of African Sleeping sickness while dousing his head with Budweiser to ward off the effects?

I don't mean to sound ridiculous, here. Those who know me realize that this is just my rant to ease the tensions of this job and let off steam. I do, however find deep dismay looking at oncoming traffic at speeds of 65-80 m.p.h. while I am standing defenseless on the roadside dealing with some miscreant. I realize that in that traffic somewhere, there is a buckwild dumpster jumper with a .31 BAC behind the wheel of a 1 ton dually with a steel pipe bumper and a crosshair hood ornament.

First offenses are gimmees, especially since we still allow section acquittals on those, but when you start piling on a few more, Johnny Cochran's ghost will take the case, since Mr. "Pillar of the Community" is the one who got caught this time. Sorry folks, that sucks. Plea it down from 4th back to 1st again, or make it a non-moving altogether, after all, he's really not so bad a guy, remember? He did buy your honor a beer at the club after tee time...

It has to become completely unacceptable, people. The attitudes have to change. I'm tired of filling bodybags with innocents whose only crime was that they crossed paths with a selfish, irresponsible asshole.

/rant off.

[countybear]

Author's note:

In the time that it took me to write and edit this, two more people died, and an article was posted in our "In the News" section about a cop's ride-along wife getting killed last night.

No problem. We all accept it as a possibility, right?

[Five-0]

I'm with you CB. Your fight in your state will be even harder than the one in mine. With our cameras in our cars you would think we would not even have to write a report. Like you said, two hours of paperwork is a minimum. The he/she isn't a bad person defense is a thorn in my side. Unfortunatly that defense works really well in some places more times than not.

[Willowdared]

You're right CountryBear! We are in need of an attitude shift about alcohol.

It's strikes me as very ironic, that as we become smarter about the effects of alcohol on reaction time and reflexes, we are dumber about our drinking habits.

I grew up during a time when there were "rules" about drinking. I don't know if they were ever written down in a book of etiquette, but they were certainly discussed.

My family enjoyed their booze, but I don't recall a single can of beer being toted along on our picnics. Today, people are upset that they can't have alcohol at the beach.

The nightcap was a regular ritual, and cocktail parties featured whiskey, bourbon and gin. But if you were a sloppy drunk, you didn't get invited. There was little respect for those that over-did their drinking. I also recall that the parties had lots of food, and they wrapped up with coffee and desserts, so no alcohol was served in the last hours. People were given rides, or kept longer until they were in better shape. People took responsibility, and would "cut you off" before you got in trouble.

Where once you would be embarrassed to get "shit-faced," it's now something to brag about. People are drinking to get drunk, and don't seem interested in savoring the art of the brewer/distiller/winemaker.

[mack]

I rarely drink, and if I do I only have one or two because that is my limit, all I can handle. I have lost too many friends to drunk drivers and have no patience with them. Florida DUI laws have gotten tougher but I know that if you get a good attorney you will plea bargin it down to nothing. Seems there is no limit to how many have to die before something is done about it. Absolutely ridiculous!

[countybear]

Four more... as of this post.

[gopherpuckfan]

/rant off.

Great post! Can someone hit CB for me?

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to countybear again.

[Lo523]

Great Post! I got CB for you Gopherpuckfan!

[MacLean]

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to countybear again.

[CTR man]

I don't mean to sound ridiculous, here. Those who know me realize that this is just my rant to ease the tensions of this job and let off steam. I do, however find deep dismay looking at oncoming traffic at speeds of 65-80 m.p.h. while I am standing defenseless on the roadside dealing with some miscreant. I realize that in that traffic somewhere, there is a buckwild dumpster jumper with a .31 BAC behind the wheel of a 1 ton dually with a steel pipe bumper and a crosshair hood ornament.

maybe it was this one. very sad.

http://www.lawenforcementforums.com/...ad.php?t=23818

[Jenna]

Great rant, countybear.

[lewisipso]

I wish I could get someone to certify me. 15 years and still waiting.

[countybear]

I wish I could get someone to certify me. 15 years and still waiting.

The class is free (for you):

http://www.lsp.org/training_intox_batonrouge.html

Jan 22,23 and Jan 24,25. 8a to 5p, full Intox 5000 cert. (16 hour).

[smokey703]

Great post! Can someone hit CB for me?

Can I hit him with my car?!

[smokey703]

I wish I could get someone to certify me. 15 years and still waiting.

You don't need to get certified lew, you have me. Atleast thats the way Lt. looks at it.

[smokey703]

Great read CB. Unfortunatly I think we are screwed when it comes to prosecuting D.W.I.s. For one we live in a small town with that good ol' boy mentality where everyone is a fine upstanding citizen and two our D.A. is more worried about his stats then actually doing his job. We will continue to be screwed until one of these drunks kill someone of " importance ". The good ol' boy mentality was proven to me a few years ago when a teenage girl, who was intoxicated, got into an accident killing an elderly woman. The teenage girl was given 5 years probation and ordered to attend A.A. meetings while the elderly woman was ultimatley sentenced to death after several days of fighting for her life in I.C.U. and the family is serving a life sentence of not having their mother, grandmother, and great grandmother. It almost seems as if our judicial system incourages drinking and driving by allowing people to make these ridiculous plea agreements and slapping them on the hand saying " Don't do that again because we have already allowed you to plea your 100th DWI down to 1st 110 times, now pay us a few dollars and drinks are on you at the bar tonight ". And it also doesn't help that we have 2 drive thru alcoholic beverage outlets 6 miles away from each other.