City council and APD have decided to enforce the 'No Refusal' policy from TH-SU and during festival weeks until September 2022.
Wow...just wow...
Wow...just wow...
Post Reply
1 of 1
No Refusal DWI policy
2,563 Views |
15 Replies |
Last: 2 yr ago by Aggieangler93
I saw something about this on the news. Kind of leaves me wondering, if they think they are ramping up enforcement of DWIs by doing this, then why did they disband APD's DWI unit (along with other special units)?
Good thing I only booze Monday-Wednesday.
Not ramping up enforcement, but giving folks a reason not to drink and drive, a subtle warning if you will. Then about the usual 100 will be jailed. This does not reduce D&D.
Nice. Not an issue unless you are an idoit.
Why wow? You have a problem with getting drunks off the road?MaroonStain said:
City council and APD have decided to enforce the 'No Refusal' policy from TH-SU and during festival weeks until September 2022.
Wow...just wow...
The APD DWI unit (prior to being disbanded) permanently operated on a no-refusal basis. If someone was arrested by an officer assigned to the unit, and refused to provide a consensual breath or blood sample, the DWI officer would apply for a search warrant from a judge to authorize the taking of a blood specimen. This would include standard DWI arrests as well as intoxication assault and intoxication manslaughter cases.
Regular patrol officers were only held to the no-refusal standard over certain weekends. There are several reasons for this, with cost being a primary factor.
Due to internal APD policies, officers are not allowed to write their own search warrants. Exceptions are made for certain units, with DWI being one of them.
So in the majority of advertised no-refusal weekends, a detective, usually two due to volume of arrests, would be paid overtime to be on standby at the jail. They were tasked with obtaining a search warrant on behalf of patrol officers who arrested an impaired driver who refused to voluntary provided a blood specimen.
If a patrol officer arrested an impaired driver outside of the no-refusal window, typically 10p-430a, and the driver refused to provide a consensual sample, then no chemical evidence would be obtained for prosecution purposes. The prosecutor/jury would rely on officer testimony and video alone to determine guilt or innocence.
There are exceptions to the above for folks with prior DWI convictions/felony DWI cases. The above is just the procedure for typical misdemeanor DWI cases. State law mandates a sample be taken, whether by consent or search warrant, for felony DWI cases (multiple prior convictions/intox assault/intox manslaughter).
The city of Austin is on pace to set a record for fatal crashes. The Austin Transportation Department, the folks behind Vision Zero, are estimating we'll hit 105-110 fatal crashes by the end of the year. Actual deaths are even higher due to crashes involving multiple fatalities.
With the overwhelming majority of officers assigned to highway enforcement(motorcycle officer/DWI officers/commercial vehicle enforcement officers) being reallocated back to patrol, there is not a single officer employed by the department who is dedicated to routine traffic enforcement anymore.
Patrol officers are tasked with it in their non-committed time, but that is rare. Even then, standard Austin patrol cars do not have radar installed in them. Only the previous mentioned disbanded units had radars due to cost. A patrol officer can check-out a handheld radar from their substation for use, but that requires an officer to be stationary and actively targeting a speeding vehicle to be utilized. An in-car radar can be used stationary as well as while the car is in motion. This is effective for passively enforcing the speed limit. An officer using an in-car radar can determine the speed of a vehicle passing them in the opposite direction while those with only a handheld radar cannot.
Motor officers formerly were tasked with working school zones, handling traffic collisions citywide, and enforcing other hazardous traffic violations on all roadways, among other duties. This unit went from ~35 officers to 0.
DWI officers were tasked with proactively enforcing hazardous traffic violations during the nighttime hours with the emphasis on seeking out impaired drivers. They were also tasked with handling all high-profile DWI cases (celebrities/off-duty police officers (yes it happens) in addition to intoxication assault and intoxication manslaughter cases). When patrol officers encountered a DWI, they would relinquish the driver to an officer assigned to the unit so the patrol officer could resume handling 911 calls. This unit went from 20 officers to 0.
Daytime Highway Response officers were tasked with enforcing hazardous violations on the high-speed roadways (IH-35/Mopac/183/290) as well as working collisions and removing debris/stalled vehicles from high speed roadways. This unit (~6 officers) was disbanded prior to the "defund movement" due to increased violence downtown. The officer positions were reallocated to increase staffing in the downtown bar district.
Commercial Vehicle Enforcement officers enforced federal regulations on commercial vehicles (think overloaded/overweight dump truck with bald tires and no brakes/truck losing its load/bridge strikes). Only officers who go through extensive federal training can enforce the standards set forth by the federal regulations. This unit went from 14 officers to 3. There is extensive federal grant money tied to this unit. I suspect that the remaining officers are a placeholder due to the complexity of the training as well as grant money tied to the unit. This unit would not easily be stood back up if completely suspended when the staffing crisis is alleviated in however many years down the road.
There are no officers assigned with the task of proactively seeking out impaired drivers. Speed and impaired driving are the #1 and #2 cause of traffic fatalities in the city, by a large margin. With officers no longer tasked with proactively seeking out those infractions, people will continue to die on our roads. The extension of the no refusal policy is an attempt to minimize this impact.
Due to all of the above, the dept. is trying to do a lot with a little. By increasing no-refusal weekends year-round, they hope to gain voluntary compliance with impaired driving.
This is a lengthy reply, but necessary one. Hopefully this will help folks understand the behind the scenes impacts of the decisions that have been made and continue to be made by elected officials. Elections and decisions have consequences. And, in this situation, they can be quantified by the record murder rate and near record traffic fatality rate.
Regular patrol officers were only held to the no-refusal standard over certain weekends. There are several reasons for this, with cost being a primary factor.
Due to internal APD policies, officers are not allowed to write their own search warrants. Exceptions are made for certain units, with DWI being one of them.
So in the majority of advertised no-refusal weekends, a detective, usually two due to volume of arrests, would be paid overtime to be on standby at the jail. They were tasked with obtaining a search warrant on behalf of patrol officers who arrested an impaired driver who refused to voluntary provided a blood specimen.
If a patrol officer arrested an impaired driver outside of the no-refusal window, typically 10p-430a, and the driver refused to provide a consensual sample, then no chemical evidence would be obtained for prosecution purposes. The prosecutor/jury would rely on officer testimony and video alone to determine guilt or innocence.
There are exceptions to the above for folks with prior DWI convictions/felony DWI cases. The above is just the procedure for typical misdemeanor DWI cases. State law mandates a sample be taken, whether by consent or search warrant, for felony DWI cases (multiple prior convictions/intox assault/intox manslaughter).
The city of Austin is on pace to set a record for fatal crashes. The Austin Transportation Department, the folks behind Vision Zero, are estimating we'll hit 105-110 fatal crashes by the end of the year. Actual deaths are even higher due to crashes involving multiple fatalities.
With the overwhelming majority of officers assigned to highway enforcement(motorcycle officer/DWI officers/commercial vehicle enforcement officers) being reallocated back to patrol, there is not a single officer employed by the department who is dedicated to routine traffic enforcement anymore.
Patrol officers are tasked with it in their non-committed time, but that is rare. Even then, standard Austin patrol cars do not have radar installed in them. Only the previous mentioned disbanded units had radars due to cost. A patrol officer can check-out a handheld radar from their substation for use, but that requires an officer to be stationary and actively targeting a speeding vehicle to be utilized. An in-car radar can be used stationary as well as while the car is in motion. This is effective for passively enforcing the speed limit. An officer using an in-car radar can determine the speed of a vehicle passing them in the opposite direction while those with only a handheld radar cannot.
Motor officers formerly were tasked with working school zones, handling traffic collisions citywide, and enforcing other hazardous traffic violations on all roadways, among other duties. This unit went from ~35 officers to 0.
DWI officers were tasked with proactively enforcing hazardous traffic violations during the nighttime hours with the emphasis on seeking out impaired drivers. They were also tasked with handling all high-profile DWI cases (celebrities/off-duty police officers (yes it happens) in addition to intoxication assault and intoxication manslaughter cases). When patrol officers encountered a DWI, they would relinquish the driver to an officer assigned to the unit so the patrol officer could resume handling 911 calls. This unit went from 20 officers to 0.
Daytime Highway Response officers were tasked with enforcing hazardous violations on the high-speed roadways (IH-35/Mopac/183/290) as well as working collisions and removing debris/stalled vehicles from high speed roadways. This unit (~6 officers) was disbanded prior to the "defund movement" due to increased violence downtown. The officer positions were reallocated to increase staffing in the downtown bar district.
Commercial Vehicle Enforcement officers enforced federal regulations on commercial vehicles (think overloaded/overweight dump truck with bald tires and no brakes/truck losing its load/bridge strikes). Only officers who go through extensive federal training can enforce the standards set forth by the federal regulations. This unit went from 14 officers to 3. There is extensive federal grant money tied to this unit. I suspect that the remaining officers are a placeholder due to the complexity of the training as well as grant money tied to the unit. This unit would not easily be stood back up if completely suspended when the staffing crisis is alleviated in however many years down the road.
There are no officers assigned with the task of proactively seeking out impaired drivers. Speed and impaired driving are the #1 and #2 cause of traffic fatalities in the city, by a large margin. With officers no longer tasked with proactively seeking out those infractions, people will continue to die on our roads. The extension of the no refusal policy is an attempt to minimize this impact.
Due to all of the above, the dept. is trying to do a lot with a little. By increasing no-refusal weekends year-round, they hope to gain voluntary compliance with impaired driving.
This is a lengthy reply, but necessary one. Hopefully this will help folks understand the behind the scenes impacts of the decisions that have been made and continue to be made by elected officials. Elections and decisions have consequences. And, in this situation, they can be quantified by the record murder rate and near record traffic fatality rate.
I don't really care one way of the other but is ironic in this ACLU supporting city.MaroonStain said:
City council and APD have decided to enforce the 'No Refusal' policy from TH-SU and during festival weeks until September 2022.
Wow...just wow...
Thanks for the writeup. So sad to see all the special units be disbanded.
Martin Cash said:Why wow? You have a problem with getting drunks off the road?MaroonStain said:
City council and APD have decided to enforce the 'No Refusal' policy from TH-SU and during festival weeks until September 2022.
Wow...just wow...
Riiighhhttt...and you think every stop is going to be legitimate? Drunks driving errywhere in Austin. Here, there and everywhere so beware. Field sobriety tests for everyone and might as well check to see if they have their covid card.
Is that supposed to make sense? Drunk posting?MaroonStain said:
Riiighhhttt...and you think every stop is going to be legitimate? Drunks driving errywhere in Austin. Here, there and everywhere so beware. Field sobriety tests for everyone and might as well check to see if they have their covid card.
A blood warrant is not issued until a judge reviews the affidavit for probable cause. "Every stop' does not result in an arrest for DWI or a blood warrant. Besides, you always have the option to take a breath test, as you agreed to do when you got your DL. Speak not of things about which you know nothing.
Good talk. Now you're making **** up.
How so?MaroonStain said:
Good talk. Now you're making **** up.
Is the increase in fatalities truly from DWI's or from more people being on their phones? Or both? That's my biggest gripe with any DWI law. You get caught driving after 4 beers, you are likely fired, and you are spending 10's of thousands fighting it. You get caught watching a YouTube video, you get what is essentially a speeding ticket. They should both be treated equally.
Either way, the advancement of self driving cars will hopefully put a lot of these issues to rest in the next 35 years.
Either way, the advancement of self driving cars will hopefully put a lot of these issues to rest in the next 35 years.
The latest numbers I've seen show speed as the #1 leading cause of fatalities in Austin followed closely by alcohol. I'm not sure where texting/distracted driving falls on the list. But speed/alcohol lead by a wide margin.
Speed is determined by vehicular homicide detectives conducting a reconstruction of the collision. And alcohol concentration is determined either by the medical examiner via autopsy or a chemical analysis of blood of the intoxicated driver that caused the collision obtained via search warrant.
SOPs for an intoxication manslaughter case dictate that a search warrant be obtained regardless of consent. If the driver consents, two separate blood draws would take place, back to back, with two completely separate draw sites and needles. One draw of "consent blood" and one draw pursuant to a warrant. The consent from the driver would satisfy implied consent laws and their license would not be suspended until/unless a chemical analysis shows an BAC higher than 0.08.
Speed is determined by vehicular homicide detectives conducting a reconstruction of the collision. And alcohol concentration is determined either by the medical examiner via autopsy or a chemical analysis of blood of the intoxicated driver that caused the collision obtained via search warrant.
SOPs for an intoxication manslaughter case dictate that a search warrant be obtained regardless of consent. If the driver consents, two separate blood draws would take place, back to back, with two completely separate draw sites and needles. One draw of "consent blood" and one draw pursuant to a warrant. The consent from the driver would satisfy implied consent laws and their license would not be suspended until/unless a chemical analysis shows an BAC higher than 0.08.
It looks like all the "defund the police" stuff worked really well! I was talking to a lady at a restaraunt the other day at the next table over. She was complaining about the murder rates and fatal collisions. I mentioned "...defunding the police was a great idea in retrospect, huh?" Even after 15 mins of me wasting my breath trying to explain it to her, she could never connect the dots for cause and effect. It's not a huge logical leap for me, but then again, I probably miss lots of emotional things being so logical all the time. Austin is going to continue down this path as long as the idiots have been put in charge of the village. I don't see that changing much as more and more Cali dudes move in.op_06 said:
The APD DWI unit (prior to being disbanded) permanently operated on a no-refusal basis. If someone was arrested by an officer assigned to the unit, and refused to provide a consensual breath or blood sample, the DWI officer would apply for a search warrant from a judge to authorize the taking of a blood specimen. This would include standard DWI arrests as well as intoxication assault and intoxication manslaughter cases.
Regular patrol officers were only held to the no-refusal standard over certain weekends. There are several reasons for this, with cost being a primary factor.
Due to internal APD policies, officers are not allowed to write their own search warrants. Exceptions are made for certain units, with DWI being one of them.
So in the majority of advertised no-refusal weekends, a detective, usually two due to volume of arrests, would be paid overtime to be on standby at the jail. They were tasked with obtaining a search warrant on behalf of patrol officers who arrested an impaired driver who refused to voluntary provided a blood specimen.
If a patrol officer arrested an impaired driver outside of the no-refusal window, typically 10p-430a, and the driver refused to provide a consensual sample, then no chemical evidence would be obtained for prosecution purposes. The prosecutor/jury would rely on officer testimony and video alone to determine guilt or innocence.
There are exceptions to the above for folks with prior DWI convictions/felony DWI cases. The above is just the procedure for typical misdemeanor DWI cases. State law mandates a sample be taken, whether by consent or search warrant, for felony DWI cases (multiple prior convictions/intox assault/intox manslaughter).
The city of Austin is on pace to set a record for fatal crashes. The Austin Transportation Department, the folks behind Vision Zero, are estimating we'll hit 105-110 fatal crashes by the end of the year. Actual deaths are even higher due to crashes involving multiple fatalities.
With the overwhelming majority of officers assigned to highway enforcement(motorcycle officer/DWI officers/commercial vehicle enforcement officers) being reallocated back to patrol, there is not a single officer employed by the department who is dedicated to routine traffic enforcement anymore.
Patrol officers are tasked with it in their non-committed time, but that is rare. Even then, standard Austin patrol cars do not have radar installed in them. Only the previous mentioned disbanded units had radars due to cost. A patrol officer can check-out a handheld radar from their substation for use, but that requires an officer to be stationary and actively targeting a speeding vehicle to be utilized. An in-car radar can be used stationary as well as while the car is in motion. This is effective for passively enforcing the speed limit. An officer using an in-car radar can determine the speed of a vehicle passing them in the opposite direction while those with only a handheld radar cannot.
Motor officers formerly were tasked with working school zones, handling traffic collisions citywide, and enforcing other hazardous traffic violations on all roadways, among other duties. This unit went from ~35 officers to 0.
DWI officers were tasked with proactively enforcing hazardous traffic violations during the nighttime hours with the emphasis on seeking out impaired drivers. They were also tasked with handling all high-profile DWI cases (celebrities/off-duty police officers (yes it happens) in addition to intoxication assault and intoxication manslaughter cases). When patrol officers encountered a DWI, they would relinquish the driver to an officer assigned to the unit so the patrol officer could resume handling 911 calls. This unit went from 20 officers to 0.
Daytime Highway Response officers were tasked with enforcing hazardous violations on the high-speed roadways (IH-35/Mopac/183/290) as well as working collisions and removing debris/stalled vehicles from high speed roadways. This unit (~6 officers) was disbanded prior to the "defund movement" due to increased violence downtown. The officer positions were reallocated to increase staffing in the downtown bar district.
Commercial Vehicle Enforcement officers enforced federal regulations on commercial vehicles (think overloaded/overweight dump truck with bald tires and no brakes/truck losing its load/bridge strikes). Only officers who go through extensive federal training can enforce the standards set forth by the federal regulations. This unit went from 14 officers to 3. There is extensive federal grant money tied to this unit. I suspect that the remaining officers are a placeholder due to the complexity of the training as well as grant money tied to the unit. This unit would not easily be stood back up if completely suspended when the staffing crisis is alleviated in however many years down the road.
There are no officers assigned with the task of proactively seeking out impaired drivers. Speed and impaired driving are the #1 and #2 cause of traffic fatalities in the city, by a large margin. With officers no longer tasked with proactively seeking out those infractions, people will continue to die on our roads. The extension of the no refusal policy is an attempt to minimize this impact.
Due to all of the above, the dept. is trying to do a lot with a little. By increasing no-refusal weekends year-round, they hope to gain voluntary compliance with impaired driving.
This is a lengthy reply, but necessary one. Hopefully this will help folks understand the behind the scenes impacts of the decisions that have been made and continue to be made by elected officials. Elections and decisions have consequences. And, in this situation, they can be quantified by the record murder rate and near record traffic fatality rate.
Class of '93 - proud Dad of a '22 grad and a '26 student!
Thanks for all your insider info that explains how these ridiculous policies effect actual policing....
Class of '93 - proud Dad of a '22 grad and a '26 student!
Featured Stories
See All
2025 Bridgeland OL Jonte Newman commits to Texas A&M
by Ryan Brauninger
Effort, enthusiasm to define A&M's success in Maroon & White Game
by Olin Buchanan
5:54
8h ago
2.7k
In-Home Visit: Jonte Newman 'checks a lot of the boxes' for Texas A&M
by TexAgs Recruiting
4:23
5h ago
640
Big Shooter
FINAL: No. 1 Texas A&M 18, No. 18 Alabama 9 (Friday, Game 2)
in Billy Liucci's TexAgs Premium
11
EastCoastAgNc
***** 2024 Houston Astros Season Thread ***** [Staff Warning]
in MLB & Other Baseball
9
JunctionNephew
FINAL: No. 1 Texas A&M 18, No. 18 Alabama 9 (Friday, Game 2)
in Billy Liucci's TexAgs Premium
8
Leto Agtreides II
FINAL: No. 1 Texas A&M 18, No. 18 Alabama 9 (Friday, Game 2)
in Billy Liucci's TexAgs Premium
8
wildmen09
FINAL: No. 1 Texas A&M 18, No. 18 Alabama 9 (Friday, Game 2)
in Billy Liucci's TexAgs Premium
8
Big Shooter
FINAL: No. 1 Texas A&M 18, No. 18 Alabama 9 (Friday, Game 2)
in Billy Liucci's TexAgs Premium
7
NukeAg10
FINAL: No. 1 Texas A&M 18, No. 18 Alabama 9 (Friday, Game 2)
in Billy Liucci's TexAgs Premium
7