Honest question here. Now that we have breathalyzers, why do we even do field sobriety tests? Or why do the sobriety tests first if you suspect alcohol?

I get that you can be intoxicated on something else, but if a cop pulls a car over for suspicion of DUI and smells alcohol, why not go straight to the breathalyzer?

Because being impaired and driving is also a crime. You don't have to be drunk to be impaired.

She might be impaired by stupidity. If the tox is clean, then I'd convict her of being a dumbass beyond a reasonable doubt.

If she really was sober, then perhaps between her ****ty driving, her dumbass attempts to stop, and how she followed directions like a ******, getting one thing right along the way may have helped avoid this

The field breathalizer is not admissible in court, the one at the station and blood test are. I think they are trained to do a number count, walk and turn, then HGN eye test first. That at least gives them the perception of trying to be thorough, and looking for other substances. Otherwise it's just a DWI check point looking for efficient arrests if only a PBT.

Im more curious whether or not DUI task force is being trained to put down "smelled alcohol coming from vehicle" vs "smelled alcohol on breath or person"....thats still incredibly damning for the defendant, but seems to provide more outs if a BAC comes back 0.0. We may see this in future when Bocephus tells us the cop "could have" smelled alcohol from a nearby beer can or that perhaps the baby had a bit of whiskey to go to sleep etc.

goatchze said:

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Honest question here. Now that we have breathalyzers, why do we even do field sobriety tests? Or why do the sobriety tests first if you suspect alcohol?

I get that you can be intoxicated on something else, but if a cop pulls a car over for suspicion of DUI and smells alcohol, why not go straight to the breathalyzer?

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Because those are kept at the police station and not just every department has them. Several agencies come to our jail to use them..... and one can also refuse to provide a sample.

Plus, this may surprise a lot of these "experts" on here, but would estimate that for every person that I ended up arresting after doing HGN on, there was 1 person who ended up going about their merry way. How many of those people would have wanted to go in to the station to bother with an intoxilyzer. Defense attorneys always tried that one ..... "So, Officer, would you say that you generally arrest everyone that you have perform HGN / SFSTs?" They generally were disappointed when I told them that it was maybe half of the people that I did HGN on. Last thing I wanted to ever do was spend 3 hours on paperwork, and more than likely go to court, on a half *** DWI. I liked my DWI arrests to be slam dunk arrests that even a skeptical jury would look at them on video and think "Uh, yeah, that person is HAMMMMMMERED"

And if you're talking about the road side "breathalyzers" we, and most departments, don't utilize them because they aren't accurate enough to even be admitted into court.

You'd be amazed at some of the answers to questions I'd get. "How much have you had to drink tonight?"....... "A lot".

"Why do you want me to do these tests, you're just going to arrest me?" Why would I arrest you??? "Because I'm drunk"

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury....... I present to you...... a drunk person

Player To Be Named Later said:

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goatchze said:

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Honest question here. Now that we have breathalyzers, why do we even do field sobriety tests? Or why do the sobriety tests first if you suspect alcohol?

I get that you can be intoxicated on something else, but if a cop pulls a car over for suspicion of DUI and smells alcohol, why not go straight to the breathalyzer?

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And if you're talking about the road side "breathalyzers" we, and most departments, don't utilize them because they aren't accurate enough to even be admitted into court.

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Thanks, this answers my question. I wasn't aware that the roadside breathlyzer was inadmissible.

thirdcoast said:

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Player To Be Named Later said:

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Because it wouldn't shock me at all if this dip**** made a crap arrest.

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The cop is both female and black. Who knows, maybe a lesbo too. On top of that, she has a GOP "Uncle Tom" attacking her, and she is claiming "death threats". She is probably more likely to get promoted than fired if it turns out she lied on an affidavit about "smelling alcohol".

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So now her sexual preference, along with her race and gender, affect her ability to do her job?

I though you'd lost all credibility with your "Trust me, I've been arrested four times" advice, but you hit rock bottom in this hole, and brought out the jackhammer.

I read that she's a Scorpio. Figures.

@player curious if you have ever had someone not max deviate eyes beyond say 30 deg on HGN? Perhaps they knew what you were looking for and when you asked them to look at pen, they said I am, as they looked at it only in their peripheral, keeping their eyes focused on your ear or a tree behind you etc. My guess is you would prob catch on quick and just put down non compliance, and move on.

My cop got frustrated and moved pen even further out to 90 degrees each side so basically the full 180 deg which caused me to move my head. I pushed back saying "how can I not move my head when you are going way out here and way out there". Then after 10 min or so another cop pulled him aside to tell him to "take a deep breath" and then coaches him on how to get me. That whispering convo was caught on tape and apparently the reason my DWI charge dropped. Besides losing his cool, when I smiled and looked at other cops, it seems he could have broke test protocol by moving pen outside the range.

Ironically, the very cop that was trying to screw me over roadside is who has reinforced my trust in the integrity of police officers all these years. He could have marked down a twitch, and the dashcam nor I or anyone else could have done anything to challenge it. But he didn't, even though frustrated he maintained his integrity....like the vast majority of cops would do. Unfortunately, in the case of Mrs West, it looks like we might have a very high profile case where 1 cop screws it up for the vast majority of good cops. By lying about alcohol oder in a case that may come back 0.0 BAC.

Buzzy said:

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thirdcoast said:

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Player To Be Named Later said:

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Because it wouldn't shock me at all if this dip**** made a crap arrest.

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The cop is both female and black. Who knows, maybe a lesbo too. On top of that, she has a GOP "Uncle Tom" attacking her, and she is claiming "death threats". She is probably more likely to get promoted than fired if it turns out she lied on an affidavit about "smelling alcohol".

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So now her sexual preference, along with her race and gender, affect her ability to do her job?

I though you'd lost all credibility with your "Trust me, I've been arrested four times" advice, but you hit rock bottom in this hole, and brought out the jackhammer.

---

You are a moron who can't read the text you quoted. I said nothing about her job ability. It's about being held accountable. Absolutely 100% identity politics plays into whether or not people are held accountable for wrongdoing. Do you disagree?

You can't have an honest discussion here becuase you just check in to take drive by shots at me. Doesn't bother me at all. I'm following this case closely and we will see who is right in the end.

It's technically 3 arrests now. None effect my credibility whatsoever. I could even post my HGN video here if it would get morons like you off my jock:

Arrest 1- buying beer age 18
Arrest 2- noise violation, college house party
Arrest 3- choking guy who pushed a girl in front of me
Expunged Arrest 4- DWI charge dropped

Nothing since 2009 when in early 20s. If anything my run ins with cops improve my knowledge of police encounters. But keep on with your cheap shots.

WOW. Just caught up on the thread.

I don't agree with everything our resident police officers have posted, but I am shocked at the attack on them and anyone in their profession. Definitely seen my share of bad officers but that is all we are going to have left on the job after we continuously attach the good ones.

At least after reading what I missed I am confident my change of heart on Allen West is warranted.

thirdcoast said:

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@player curious if you have ever had someone not max deviate eyes beyond say 30 deg on HGN? Perhaps they knew what you were looking for and when you asked them to look at pen, they said I am, as they looked at it only in their peripheral, keeping their eyes focused on your ear or a tree behind you etc. My guess is you would prob catch on quick and just put down non compliance, and move on.

My cop got frustrated and moved pen even further out to 90 degrees each side so basically the full 180 deg which caused me to move my head. I pushed back saying "how can I not move my head when you are going way out here and way out there". Then after 10 min or so another cop pulled him aside to tell him to "take a deep breath" and then coaches him on how to get me. That whispering convo was caught on tape and apparently the reason my DWI charge dropped. Besides losing his cool, when I smiled and looked at other cops, it seems he could have broke test protocol by moving pen outside the range.

Ironically, the very cop that was trying to screw me over roadside is who has reinforced my trust in the integrity of police officers all these years. He could have marked down a twitch, and the dashcam nor I or anyone else could have done anything to challenge it. But he didn't, even though frustrated he maintained his integrity....like the vast majority of cops would do. Unfortunately, in the case of Mrs West, it looks like we might have a very high profile case where 1 cop screws it up for the vast majority of good cops. By lying about alcohol oder in a case that may come back 0.0 BAC.

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Have definitely had people not max deviate. They were almost always way too hammered to even understand basic instructions. Rarely was it because someone seemed to be "on to the game" so to speak.

I'd just chalk it up to unable to follow instructions and move on. Never would I even dream to try HGN for 10 minutes, and I didn't get angry about it. You only need 4 clues of intoxication on HGN and the other two are lack of smooth pursuit and onset prior to 45 degrees. Unless you just refuse to move your eyes at all, you will see the necessary clues of intoxication even if they play the game and don't go to max deviation.

I like to think I was good at what I did and was fair about it. I never felt like I needed to or WANTED to try and hem someone up on a DWI that wasn't clearly intoxicated. I worked nights or "evenings" for the majority of my career and was on the DWI Unit for about a year, so I made my share of DWI arrests. I know a lot of you seem to think it's a BS arrest that cops are just trying to screw people over on. But for me, I'll retire knowing that all of the DWI arrests I made were more likely to have a positive impact than any other arrest I made. And that's from seeing all of the death and mayhem from wrecks involving intoxicated drivers that I've seen, and I've seen more than I care to.

And like I've said, I'll be among the biggest critics of this officer if Mrs West's blood draw comes back at 0.00

goatchze said:

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Honest question here. Now that we have breathalyzers, why do we even do field sobriety tests? Or why do the sobriety tests first if you suspect alcohol?

I get that you can be intoxicated on something else, but if a cop pulls a car over for suspicion of DUI and smells alcohol, why not go straight to the breathalyzer?

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So a few things. First, people don't understand what the definition of "intoxicated" is in Texas. The definition of intoxicated is the following:

• a) not having the normal use of your mental faculties by reason of the introduction of any substance into your body OR
• b) not having the normal use of your physical faculties by reason of the introduction of any substance into your body OR
• c) having a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) greater than a 0.08

Notice the three different standards for intoxication. Note that you can be intoxicated on "any substance" including alcohol, dope, nyquil, ivermectin, wtf ever.

Notice the "OR" between a, b, and c.

Notice you can be intoxicated if your BAC is great than 0.08.

You can go out and have an alcoholic drink, have a BAC under .08, but not have your normal use of physical faculties. You are intoxicated under the Texas penal code.

There are portable breathalyzer tests which may be used roadside. As covered many times, courts don't allow those results to prove C, they are inadmissible for that purpose as they are not reliable. There are "reliable" machines like the Intoxilyzer 8000 (real name, number may be higher) that people may be asked to blow. These are not roadside machines, they are not portable, and are kept back at whatever venue houses them in your jurisdiction.

A person does not have to blow, they can refuse. They have the power to refuse, but not the right. By signing up for DL you consent to providing a sample pursuant to the Texas transportation code. If you refuse to blow back at the station your license is automatically suspended for 180 days. You can have a hearing on that.


A warrant may be issued for a blood draw, that's another way to get BAC.

**Note above is "intoxication" for DWI. Intoxication for public intox is a lower standard.

Charpie said:

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Because being impaired and driving is also a crime. You don't have to be drunk to be impaired.

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Neither of these are legal standards for DWI. For an adult, you are either intoxicated or not. There is no other line. The crime in Texas is called Driving While Intoxicated (DWI). There is no DUI for adults.

There is a driving under the influence (DUI) offense for any one under 21. Texas has a 0 tolerance rule here so any detectable amount of alcohol is a violation. This is a class c ticket.

Just an observation here for all you policemen, past and present, on this thread. Notice the comments and push back you're getting and this is on an Aggie forum. True blue, straight and narrow, wave the flag Aggies. Bad cops exist and they have tainted your crew because we seldom see anything done about them. You need to kick their ass, weed them out and tell the union to not protect them. That will go a long way with the law abiding public that wants to be on your side, self included.

txrancher69 said:

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Just an observation here for all you policemen, past and present, on this thread. Notice the comments and push back you're getting and this is on an Aggie forum. True blue, straight and narrow, wave the flag Aggies. Bad cops exist and they have tainted your crew because we seldom see anything done about them. You need to kick their ass, weed them out and tell the union to not protect them. That will go a long way with the law abiding public that wants to be on your side, self included.

---

Problem is, there are probably way more bad cops that get run out than you as the general public ever sees. Guys get fired all the time and it doesn't make the paper, or the newspaper pick it up, etc.

My department itself has fired 2 or 3 officers just in the last year for dumb crap. Most people will never know they were fired. But, same goes for good solid police work..... that rarely makes the news because it isn't "entertaining" enough for the media to report on. Granted, very very few of us signed up to do this job for recognition. This isn't the job anyone should do because they want to be "liked".... go be a firefighter if you want everyone to love you. But that said, it would be nice every now and then.

We've fired lots of people in my career at my Department and not one time did our "Union" ever try to get the firing over turned, and the rest of us just chalked it up to "Well that was ignorant".

2 of the people we fired this year was simply for lying during an IA investigation over stupid crap. Trying to talk their way out of punishment and embellished their stories a bit. Chief straight up is firing anyone who lies, and it's always been that way here. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to go to Dallas, Minnesota, Chicago, etc and start kicking people's ass and make them fire someone.

I guess what I'm getting at is that there are WAY more good cops out there than bad, but guess who makes the news? It's pretty sad, because I know a lot of top notch cops that are super conservative guys that you probably want on the police force, but they're getting out or have gotten out. Right now, pretty much anyone with a real exit plan is getting out. I'm ready to get out, my wife is ready for me to be out, and the rest of my family is ready for me to be out.

I worry about what's going to happen to society when all the people you'd want to see at your local PDs decide that it isn't worth it. Right now, pretty much every day each shift's Lieutenant is sending out an email asking for 1 officer or more to come in and work OT to get to minimum staffing. And we all have been working mandatory OT for about a year and a half. Each shift is call to call to call all day and dispatch never seems to stop talking. "I have a domestic holding" or "I have a disturbance holding" goes on all day long because they don't have available officers to send. This is going to sound awful, but after a year and a half of that, I don't find myself caring all that much. And yeah, I fully admit that means it's time for me to go, and I am the day after I hit my 20. I'll go make more money to not deal with society's messes.

I was an Aminal Science major, with a focus on feedlots. Worked a couple years at a feedlot in Colorado before my dumb ass decided to get into LE. I really should have just stuck with cows

Player To Be Named Later said:

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Faustus said:

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Player To Be Named Later said:

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But honestly, this is really my point. You can't make either "side" happy anymore.

Go make solid pre-textual stops and try to catch car burglars in high crime areas? Get hammered by the left.

Decide it isn't worth it, and just take your calls and not add additional risk? Get hammered by guys like you.

Not a chance in hell I'd recommend this to anyone right now. Go "fight fires" and have a cush career with a better retirement.

---

I'm sympathetic to your plight, but it's kind of funny to state that you're in essence punching the clock until retirement on one hand, while looking down your nose at firemen's cush career and retirement in the other.

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Hey, if they ever start getting out of the station and pro-actively looking for fires to prevent, etc then I'll feel better about them.

And yeah, it's my dumb a$$ fault for not doing that profession for 20 yrs vs doing it for the last 5 months of my career. Definitely picked the wrong test to take.

*** Edit, I'm really just giving those guys ****. I respect what they do.... it's just that what they do is infinitely easier. At least in a CIty like mine. There is a Station in our City that maybe rolls out on double digit calls in a week. I'm not even trying to do a whole lot right now and I routinely take about 20 in a day.

---

Uhh, they do this every day. Ever heard of inspections?

I agree. I think the vast majority of cops do too, and all but one here on this thread (Bocephus is an outlier with a strong DPD bias).

Even if it comes back that this 1 cop lied about alcohol odor, I would still first question her training as part of a DWI task force on an explicit mission to meet quotas and maintain funding. IF it turns out it's common practice or advised off the record to report "smelling alcohol from vehicle" for DWI task force arrests, regardless of no odor, then go above her head to police chief. If not, fire this cop to make an example out of her, and move on. I just don't see a black female getting fired as easily as a white male cop all things equal.

It's possible Mrs. West had alcohol in her system, but with all the facts presented it's much more probable she didn't. If it's not 0.0, Alan West's career deserves to be over, and I will formally apologize for being wrong

Can anyone find the rest of this interview?

Go to very end, Angela gets cut off saying "I am confident, but..."

I want to know what she says at the end. Here is the fact pattern to support my 0.0 BAC, but positive Benzos theory:

1) Benzos are a common "one time" non refill prescription.

2) Mrs. West admits in her FB post she only takes one off prescriptions when needed.

3) Benzos align with the lackadaisical pull over and somewhat care free attitude in her roadside complying.

4) Alan West states that the DPD is "trying to drum up drug charges", possibly to get ahead of a Benzo result.

5) The police chief back stepped and hedged saying his officer believed there was "something" impacting West's driving. (Why not say "alcohol" if the probable cause in her affidavit was "odor of alcohol"?)

6) The lab test posted on social media expclicitly excludes Benzos.

I have. Weird that it seems Kroger gets "inspected" more often than most locations.

Player To Be Named Later said:

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txrancher69 said:

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Just an observation here for all you policemen, past and present, on this thread. Notice the comments and push back you're getting and this is on an Aggie forum. True blue, straight and narrow, wave the flag Aggies. Bad cops exist and they have tainted your crew because we seldom see anything done about them. You need to kick their ass, weed them out and tell the union to not protect them. That will go a long way with the law abiding public that wants to be on your side, self included.

---

Problem is, there are probably way more bad cops that get run out than you as the general public ever sees. Guys get fired all the time and it doesn't make the paper, or the newspaper pick it up, etc.

My department itself has fired 2 or 3 officers just in the last year for dumb crap. Most people will never know they were fired. But, same goes for good solid police work..... that rarely makes the news because it isn't "entertaining" enough for the media to report on. Granted, very very few of us signed up to do this job for recognition. This isn't the job anyone should do because they want to be "liked".... go be a firefighter if you want everyone to love you. But that said, it would be nice every now and then.

We've fired lots of people in my career at my Department and not one time did our "Union" ever try to get the firing over turned, and the rest of us just chalked it up to "Well that was ignorant".

2 of the people we fired this year was simply for lying during an IA investigation over stupid crap. Trying to talk their way out of punishment and embellished their stories a bit. Chief straight up is firing anyone who lies, and it's always been that way here. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to go to Dallas, Minnesota, Chicago, etc and start kicking people's ass and make them fire someone.

I guess what I'm getting at is that there are WAY more good cops out there than bad, but guess who makes the news? It's pretty sad, because I know a lot of top notch cops that are super conservative guys that you probably want on the police force, but they're getting out or have gotten out. Right now, pretty much anyone with a real exit plan is getting out. I'm ready to get out, my wife is ready for me to be out, and the rest of my family is ready for me to be out.

I worry about what's going to happen to society when all the people you'd want to see at your local PDs decide that it isn't worth it. Right now, pretty much every day each shift's Lieutenant is sending out an email asking for 1 officer or more to come in and work OT to get to minimum staffing. And we all have been working mandatory OT for about a year and a half. Each shift is call to call to call all day and dispatch never seems to stop talking. "I have a domestic holding" or "I have a disturbance holding" goes on all day long because they don't have available officers to send. This is going to sound awful, but after a year and a half of that, I don't find myself caring all that much. And yeah, I fully admit that means it's time for me to go, and I am the day after I hit my 20. I'll go make more money to not deal with society's messes.

I was an Aminal Science major, with a focus on feedlots. Worked a couple years at a feedlot in Colorado before my dumb ass decided to get into LE. I really should have just stuck with cows

---

Hope you get your 20 and find something fulfilling to do. IMO ex cops make great authors for crime thrillers & police procedurals. They understand how things work and write believable stuff.

Back on topic, T&P for the Wests in this tough time. Hope it all works out well for them.

My writing would be more along the lines of Baxter Black than any cop stuff.

I just want to forget any and everything about law enforcement after I leave and go do other things. Watching cop shows or writing cop things doesn't sound appealing.

One question to the LE posters.
Might hand sanitizer cause "the smell of alcohol" in a vehicle?

Ive never noticed hand sanitizer to smell like an alcoholic beverage on someone's breath and person.

Which is why I never wrote up it up as smelling alcohol in the car. When I got them out of the car and smelled it on them, hard to call that still hand sanitizer 5 minutes outside the vehicle

Player To Be Named Later said:

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Faustus said:

---

Player To Be Named Later said:

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But honestly, this is really my point. You can't make either "side" happy anymore.

Go make solid pre-textual stops and try to catch car burglars in high crime areas? Get hammered by the left.

Decide it isn't worth it, and just take your calls and not add additional risk? Get hammered by guys like you.

Not a chance in hell I'd recommend this to anyone right now. Go "fight fires" and have a cush career with a better retirement.

---

I'm sympathetic to your plight, but it's kind of funny to state that you're in essence punching the clock until retirement on one hand, while looking down your nose at firemen's cush career and retirement in the other.

---

Hey, if they ever start getting out of the station and pro-actively looking for fires to prevent, etc then I'll feel better about them.

And yeah, it's my dumb a$$ fault for not doing that profession for 20 yrs vs doing it for the last 5 months of my career. Definitely picked the wrong test to take.

*** Edit, I'm really just giving those guys ****. I respect what they do.... it's just that what they do is infinitely easier. At least in a CIty like mine. There is a Station in our City that maybe rolls out on double digit calls in a week. I'm not even trying to do a whole lot right now and I routinely take about 20 in a day.

---

We are all dumber for not having Kelly scheduling. Is what it is

JoeAggie1010 said:

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Player To Be Named Later said:

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And for the record, I 100% believe that this officer should be fired and/or face any potential legal charges if it is proven that she lied on an affidavit/report/etc.

Where I draw the line is anyone thinking it's "cool" that anyone should receive death threats for this.

She completely deserves anything coming to her from an IA / Criminal standpoint if that is proven and I won't feel even the slightest bit sorry for her and in fact I'll be pissed. But death threats? That's where I hate our current society.... people are starting to think that's just part of a legitimate way to approach things.

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Brother, I feel your pinch. I think what folks are trying to say is, listen to the conversation and don't staunchly defend the arrest. Have a look from the other side. I believe most here would say death threats are not ok, that you ran with. The conversation surrounds the underwhelming performance of the officer's roadside stop. For context, my son is a deputy in this state and fully appreciate the political forces you work with. Go home, be safe, and keep serving with distinction.

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In your opinion, what was wrong with her stop?

thirdcoast said:

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Bocephus said:

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thirdcoast said:

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Player To Be Named Later said:

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Because it wouldn't shock me at all if this dip**** made a crap arrest.

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The cop is both female and black. Who knows, maybe a lesbo too. On top of that, she has a GOP "Uncle Tom" attacking her, and she is claiming "death threats". She is probably more likely to get promoted than fired if it turns out she lied on an affidavit about "smelling alcohol".

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The death threats are real. They're calling the station genius.

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Yeah, I get it. Just like local election officials who violated state law got "death threats" too after Trump called them out by name. It's not real until it's investigated and those making the threats are flushed out and dealt with. Until then it's "death threats" and as you and a few others have shown, it's the best thing this cop has going for her in getting sympathy and saving face. Anyone could be "calling the station" including anonymous anti-Alan West folks looking give the DPD some firepower to fight back.

Are these callers using burner phones or pay phones? I believe there are laws on the books to bring these threatsters to justice. Per my earlier comments, death threats should be investigated fervently by LEOs/FBI and dealt with sternly to send a message. They should NOT be tossed around to provide cover for accusations of wrong doing. Which are we seeing here in this case?

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Clearly it is all fake. You sound as dumb as the sips on the 90s who claimed that it was Aggies who were sending racist letters to James Brown and pretending to be sips.

goatchze said:

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Honest question here. Now that we have breathalyzers, why do we even do field sobriety tests? Or why do the sobriety tests first if you suspect alcohol?

I get that you can be intoxicated on something else, but if a cop pulls a car over for suspicion of DUI and smells alcohol, why not go straight to the breathalyzer?

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Bc it is possible to be too impaired to drive yet not actually blow over a .08. The field sobriety test helps document the impairment.

Lol you are desperate. Im sure the death threats are as real as all the threats Jussie Smollet and Bubba Wallace got, just way way less in volume.

I see you conveniently disregarded the bold part about how I think the threats should be fervently investigated and punished. Do you disagree with that? I imagine you would be pretty heart broken if FBI investigated and found no credible serious threats.

You are still predicting a 1.5 BAC after Mrs West posted her urine test showing no alcohol. Lol at least your police chief had the common sense to pivot from "alcohol" to "something"

thirdcoast said:

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Can anyone find the rest of this interview?

Go to very end, Angela gets cut off saying "I am confident, but..."

I want to know what she says at the end. Here is the fact pattern to support my 0.0 BAC, but positive Benzos theory:

1) Benzos are a common "one time" non refill prescription.

2) Mrs. West admits in her FB post she only takes one off prescriptions when needed.

3) Benzos align with the lackadaisical pull over and somewhat care free attitude in her roadside complying.

4) Alan West states that the DPD is "trying to drum up drug charges", possibly to get ahead of a Benzo result.

5) The police chief back stepped and hedged saying his officer believed there was "something" impacting West's driving. (Why not say "alcohol" if the probable cause in her affidavit was "odor of alcohol"?)

6) The lab test posted on social media expclicitly excludes Benzos.

---

Garcia is not going to say anything that could impact the investigation. It really is humorous to see the mental gymnastics you will go through in order to justify your theory that this officer is lying.

BuddysBud said:

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One question to the LE posters.
Might hand sanitizer cause "the smell of alcohol" in a vehicle?

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That would be pretty strong hand sanitizer to smell it when you were approaching the vehicle. Also a different smell than most alcoholic beverages.

thirdcoast said:

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Lol you are desperate. Im sure the death threats are as real as all the threats Jussie Smollet and Bubba Wallace got, just way way less in volume.

I see you conveniently disregarded the bold part about how I think the threats should be fervently investigated and punished. Do you disagree with that? I imagine you would be pretty heart broken if FBI investigated and found no credible serious threats.

You are still predicting a 1.5 BAC after Mrs West posted her urine test showing no alcohol. Lol at least your police chief had the common sense to pivot from "alcohol" to "something"

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I said .15 and I expect it to be over that.

techno-ag said:

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Player To Be Named Later said:

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txrancher69 said:

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Just an observation here for all you policemen, past and present, on this thread. Notice the comments and push back you're getting and this is on an Aggie forum. True blue, straight and narrow, wave the flag Aggies. Bad cops exist and they have tainted your crew because we seldom see anything done about them. You need to kick their ass, weed them out and tell the union to not protect them. That will go a long way with the law abiding public that wants to be on your side, self included.

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Problem is, there are probably way more bad cops that get run out than you as the general public ever sees. Guys get fired all the time and it doesn't make the paper, or the newspaper pick it up, etc.

My department itself has fired 2 or 3 officers just in the last year for dumb crap. Most people will never know they were fired. But, same goes for good solid police work..... that rarely makes the news because it isn't "entertaining" enough for the media to report on. Granted, very very few of us signed up to do this job for recognition. This isn't the job anyone should do because they want to be "liked".... go be a firefighter if you want everyone to love you. But that said, it would be nice every now and then.

We've fired lots of people in my career at my Department and not one time did our "Union" ever try to get the firing over turned, and the rest of us just chalked it up to "Well that was ignorant".

2 of the people we fired this year was simply for lying during an IA investigation over stupid crap. Trying to talk their way out of punishment and embellished their stories a bit. Chief straight up is firing anyone who lies, and it's always been that way here. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to go to Dallas, Minnesota, Chicago, etc and start kicking people's ass and make them fire someone.

I guess what I'm getting at is that there are WAY more good cops out there than bad, but guess who makes the news? It's pretty sad, because I know a lot of top notch cops that are super conservative guys that you probably want on the police force, but they're getting out or have gotten out. Right now, pretty much anyone with a real exit plan is getting out. I'm ready to get out, my wife is ready for me to be out, and the rest of my family is ready for me to be out.

I worry about what's going to happen to society when all the people you'd want to see at your local PDs decide that it isn't worth it. Right now, pretty much every day each shift's Lieutenant is sending out an email asking for 1 officer or more to come in and work OT to get to minimum staffing. And we all have been working mandatory OT for about a year and a half. Each shift is call to call to call all day and dispatch never seems to stop talking. "I have a domestic holding" or "I have a disturbance holding" goes on all day long because they don't have available officers to send. This is going to sound awful, but after a year and a half of that, I don't find myself caring all that much. And yeah, I fully admit that means it's time for me to go, and I am the day after I hit my 20. I'll go make more money to not deal with society's messes.

I was an Aminal Science major, with a focus on feedlots. Worked a couple years at a feedlot in Colorado before my dumb ass decided to get into LE. I really should have just stuck with cows

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Hope you get your 20 and find something fulfilling to do. IMO ex cops make great authors for crime thrillers & police procedurals. They understand how things work and write believable stuff.
. . .

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You could always go for that second pension by "fighting fires." It shouldn't be too stressful.

I actually did know one hoseboy who was a former cop. He lost control dealing with a child molester and beat the living **** out of him (which should earn him a medal, but I digress). Anyway, he turned in his badge and joined the fire department instead.

We have a guy on our shift that was with FD. Retired to go start a private enterprise...... that didn't work out and then he was too old to get hired back on with the FD so he came over to the PD.

I feel bad for him every day.

Me? I'm just going to go drive hot shot OTR. Driving, just listening to my podcasts or the radio, with nobody in my ear all day and no BS new "policy" coming out? Yes please.