Teh One Who Knocks
03-11-2015, 11:24 AM
By Amy Friedenberger - The Roanoke Times
http://i.imgur.com/a6GxViBl.png
“No Refusal” blood-draw procedures being performed in Georgia. (Source: myfoxatlanta.com)
During this weekend’s St. Patrick’s Day festivities, motorists in Roanoke County who are suspected of driving while impaired and refuse breath tests could be ordered to submit to blood tests.
The blood tests are part of a new Roanoke County Police Department “No Refusal” initiative to crack down on drinking and driving, which the police chief said continues to be a problem.
“We’re very interested in trying to keep the roadways and streets in Roanoke County as safe as we can keep them,” Chief Howard Hall said.
The police department already conducts sobriety checkpoints — 21 last year — but adding “No Refusal” takes those a step further.
When a driver gets pulled over at a sobriety checkpoint and the officer has probable cause that the person is intoxicated — slurred words, handing over a credit card as opposed to driver’s license, smell of alcohol — the officer will arrest that person for driving under the influence.
The driver will be asked to submit to a breathalyzer test. If the person refuses — and Hall said about 20 percent of people do refuse — the officer will apply for a search warrant with the magistrate.
If the magistrate is satisfied with the probable cause laid out by the officer, a search warrant will be issued to medical staff at the sheriff’s office to obtain a blood test from the driver.
According to state law, anyone who operates a motor vehicle on a road has consented to have samples of blood, breath or both taken for a test to determined the level of alcohol or drugs in his blood. In more rare cases, Hall said, Roanoke County police get blood tests to investigate serious crashes.
“We’re trying to obtain all evidence,” Hall said. “The chemical test is some of the most critical evidence the commonwealth’s attorney will use in court.”
Hall explained that to the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday at a briefing about the program.
Supervisor Al Bedrosian wanted to know why the department should add the “No Refusal” initiative if suspected impaired drivers were being arrested anyway.
Hall said that if a driver refuses a breath test, then that missing evidence — the lack of the driver’s blood-alcohol level — weakens the case, and the driver may only face a civil offense or criminal charge for the refusal.
In Virginia, a driver who declines to submit to a breath test could lose his license for a year and face a potential fine. Second and third refusals, if they occur within 10 years of the previous refusal, could result in the driver losing his license for another three years.
More than 10 states are conducting No Refusal initiatives, while many more states have the necessary legal authority to administer them, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
While the administration includes Virginia on its list of states with legal authority, Claire Guthrie Gastanaga, executive director of the ACLU of Virginia, said the legality is questionable because it negates the refusal statute.
“There’s the question of whether refusing to take a breath test is probable cause for a warrant,” Gastanaga said.
Tony Anderson, a Roanoke defense attorney known for representing high-profile DUI cases, says the “No Refusal” program and withdrawing blood by obtaining a search warrant are legal under the implied consent law.
There has yet to be an appellate decision in Virginia on implied consent. But when it comes to obtaining a blood sample from a DUI suspect, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2013 that police should generally obtain a search warrant.
“There are always going to be naysayers about what police do, but I’d tell them that they’ve never had to visit someone’s house and say that a loved one is not coming home because of a wreck caused by drinking and driving,” said Roanoke County police Sgt. Tim Wyatt, of the department’s traffic unit.
Kara Macek, a spokeswoman with the Governors Highway Safety Association, said she’s not aware of any other counties or cities in Virginia that systematically use “No Refusal” in their DUI checkpoints. The organization recognized the program in 2011 for improving highway safety.
“No Refusal” checkpoints began in Montgomery County, Texas, in 2005, in response to a high rate of breath test refusals. The association notes that since then, the county’s DUI cases dropped 30 percent and the test refusal rate declined to 25 percent from 45 percent.
“We think it is a new and promising approach,” Macek said.
Last year, Roanoke County arrested 240 people on DUI charges. The year before, officers arrested 295 people. While the number has declined, the department still wanted to do more to continue to bring down those numbers.
Wyatt attended a workshop hosted by Mothers Against Drunk Driving, a supporter of “No Refusal.”
“We don’t want to have loopholes to allow people to get away with driving drunk,” said Christopher Konschak, manager of MADD’s Virginia office.
The county checkpoints that start this weekend will continue into the following weekend. Hall said county officials will evaluate how it went and how frequently it will be used.
“I want people who may be inclined to drive while they’re impaired to know we’re going to everything we can do to apprehend them and prosecute them for that crime,” he said.
http://i.imgur.com/a6GxViBl.png
“No Refusal” blood-draw procedures being performed in Georgia. (Source: myfoxatlanta.com)
During this weekend’s St. Patrick’s Day festivities, motorists in Roanoke County who are suspected of driving while impaired and refuse breath tests could be ordered to submit to blood tests.
The blood tests are part of a new Roanoke County Police Department “No Refusal” initiative to crack down on drinking and driving, which the police chief said continues to be a problem.
“We’re very interested in trying to keep the roadways and streets in Roanoke County as safe as we can keep them,” Chief Howard Hall said.
The police department already conducts sobriety checkpoints — 21 last year — but adding “No Refusal” takes those a step further.
When a driver gets pulled over at a sobriety checkpoint and the officer has probable cause that the person is intoxicated — slurred words, handing over a credit card as opposed to driver’s license, smell of alcohol — the officer will arrest that person for driving under the influence.
The driver will be asked to submit to a breathalyzer test. If the person refuses — and Hall said about 20 percent of people do refuse — the officer will apply for a search warrant with the magistrate.
If the magistrate is satisfied with the probable cause laid out by the officer, a search warrant will be issued to medical staff at the sheriff’s office to obtain a blood test from the driver.
According to state law, anyone who operates a motor vehicle on a road has consented to have samples of blood, breath or both taken for a test to determined the level of alcohol or drugs in his blood. In more rare cases, Hall said, Roanoke County police get blood tests to investigate serious crashes.
“We’re trying to obtain all evidence,” Hall said. “The chemical test is some of the most critical evidence the commonwealth’s attorney will use in court.”
Hall explained that to the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday at a briefing about the program.
Supervisor Al Bedrosian wanted to know why the department should add the “No Refusal” initiative if suspected impaired drivers were being arrested anyway.
Hall said that if a driver refuses a breath test, then that missing evidence — the lack of the driver’s blood-alcohol level — weakens the case, and the driver may only face a civil offense or criminal charge for the refusal.
In Virginia, a driver who declines to submit to a breath test could lose his license for a year and face a potential fine. Second and third refusals, if they occur within 10 years of the previous refusal, could result in the driver losing his license for another three years.
More than 10 states are conducting No Refusal initiatives, while many more states have the necessary legal authority to administer them, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
While the administration includes Virginia on its list of states with legal authority, Claire Guthrie Gastanaga, executive director of the ACLU of Virginia, said the legality is questionable because it negates the refusal statute.
“There’s the question of whether refusing to take a breath test is probable cause for a warrant,” Gastanaga said.
Tony Anderson, a Roanoke defense attorney known for representing high-profile DUI cases, says the “No Refusal” program and withdrawing blood by obtaining a search warrant are legal under the implied consent law.
There has yet to be an appellate decision in Virginia on implied consent. But when it comes to obtaining a blood sample from a DUI suspect, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2013 that police should generally obtain a search warrant.
“There are always going to be naysayers about what police do, but I’d tell them that they’ve never had to visit someone’s house and say that a loved one is not coming home because of a wreck caused by drinking and driving,” said Roanoke County police Sgt. Tim Wyatt, of the department’s traffic unit.
Kara Macek, a spokeswoman with the Governors Highway Safety Association, said she’s not aware of any other counties or cities in Virginia that systematically use “No Refusal” in their DUI checkpoints. The organization recognized the program in 2011 for improving highway safety.
“No Refusal” checkpoints began in Montgomery County, Texas, in 2005, in response to a high rate of breath test refusals. The association notes that since then, the county’s DUI cases dropped 30 percent and the test refusal rate declined to 25 percent from 45 percent.
“We think it is a new and promising approach,” Macek said.
Last year, Roanoke County arrested 240 people on DUI charges. The year before, officers arrested 295 people. While the number has declined, the department still wanted to do more to continue to bring down those numbers.
Wyatt attended a workshop hosted by Mothers Against Drunk Driving, a supporter of “No Refusal.”
“We don’t want to have loopholes to allow people to get away with driving drunk,” said Christopher Konschak, manager of MADD’s Virginia office.
The county checkpoints that start this weekend will continue into the following weekend. Hall said county officials will evaluate how it went and how frequently it will be used.
“I want people who may be inclined to drive while they’re impaired to know we’re going to everything we can do to apprehend them and prosecute them for that crime,” he said.