The Idaho State Police Department (ISP) has estimated that Southwest Idaho DUI arrests for 2008 will reach the six hundred mark, if the present arrest rate continues through the end of December. The average number of DUI arrests made by Region 3 officers between 2003 and 2007 was 294. Southwest Idaho's Region 3 is composed of ten counties which are home to more than half of all of Idaho's residents.

In response to these statistics, Idaho State Police Commander Captain Steve Richardson stated, "I have to say that I have mixed feelings about this statistic. On one hand, I'm pleased to see our troopers so highly effective in detecting and arresting drunk drivers, and getting them off the road before they can cause a crash. Yet, on the other hand, I must admit I'm dismayed that we continue to find no shortage of DUI drivers to arrest. We've substantially increased our enforcement efforts...but it is sad commentary to see so many people still out there, driving under the influence and endangering themselves and others on Idaho highways."

In early October, ISP announced the formation of a Region 3 DUI Strike Team, which utilizes law enforcement officers with an exemplary record of DUI enforcement in order to conduct roving DUI patrols at night. According to Region 3 Sergeant John Stauffer, with the added support of advanced potable breath testing devices, the DUI Strike Team has been able to average at least one driving under the influence arrest per officer per shift. On a particularly successful night, twelve individuals suspected of driving under the influence were arrested and removed from Southwestern Idaho's roads.

Despite the DUI Strike Team's success, Captain Richardson asserted, "I'd truly like to think that we'll not reach the 600 DUI mark for our region. If that happens, it won't be because our troopers have slackened their efforts to find and arrest DUI drivers. We'll be working harder than ever over the holidays to keep Idaho roads safe. It will only happen if people take it upon themselves to decide even before they take that first drink, that they will not drink and drive."

In a recent report released by Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the state of Idaho ranked tenth in their efforts to combat drunk driving. Despite this reasonably high ranking on MADD's State Progress Report, comments from MADD indicated that there is still significant room for improvement due to the fact that the Idaho state legislature has deemed sobriety checkpoints unconstitutional.

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The California Highway Patrol (CHP) and local law enforcement across California have announced a dramatic increase in the number of DUI patrols which will be conducted this holiday weekend. In most instances, checkpoints will be set on major routes which lead in and out of cities. Additional officers will also be conducting roving patrols within city limits. In addition to screening for potential drunk drivers, officers will also be keeping an eye out for speeders and seatbelt violations.

"Thanksgiving always produces a high volume of traffic; therefore, the CHP intends to provide as much visibility as possible in order to ensure a safe holiday weekend," states Captain Christina Manriquez, commander of the Santa Cruz area CHP office.

The CHP's Thanksgiving Maximum Enforcement Period, which puts every available officer on the road, is set to begin tonight at six and run through Sunday night at midnight. Last year during California's Thanksgiving Maximum Enforcement Period, there were forty one fatalities stemming from 4,337 traffic collisions. More than half of the accidents involved individuals who had been driving under the influence.

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According to a recent report published by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), Washington was identified as one of twenty five states that has not made necessary changes to state laws in an effort to combat drunk driving. Acting Chairman of the NTSB held a meeting early this morning in Washington, D.C. to chastise the states, especially Washington, for their lack of progress in the fight against drunk drivers.

During the NTSB's meeting, the Board reiterated their recommendation for a model program based on eleven elements designed to curb drunk driving. Since the board issued its' recommendations several years ago, at least thirty one states have adopted one or more elements of the model program. While no state has adopted all eleven elements, five states, including California, New Hampshire, Ohio, Utah, and Virginia, stand out for their significant progress based on the NTSB's recommendations. Despite this good news, the NTSB emphasized that the remaining forty five states need to step up their game significantly in order to comply with the NTSB's recommendations.

The most widely noted problem in Washington's attempt to decrease the number of driving under the influence arrests is the fact that state legislators declared sobriety checkpoints unconstitutional in the mid 1980s. In an effort to encourage the renewed adoption of sobriety checkpoints, the Washington Traffic Safety Commission launched a campaign to emphasize the effectiveness of sobriety checkpoints. However, this effort failed earlier this year. In the absence of checkpoints, the state of Washington has been forced to bulk up their roaming patrols in order to compensate for the absence of police checkpoints.

Despite the failure of last years' efforts to reestablish sobriety checkpoints in Washington, traffic safety advocates are hopeful that they will be able to rally support for future legislation. "We do believe that checkpoints could be set up with safeguards that would absolutely make it legal and not impinge on people's freedom," said Spokeswoman for the Washington Traffic Safety Commission, M.J. Haught.

The NTSB also faulted the state of Washington for allowing plea bargains for first time DUI defendants, not impounding cars driven by drunk driving suspects, and failing to create a statewide system of DUI courts to track repeat DUI offenders.

Although the state of Washington still considers sobriety checkpoints unconstitutional, the state legislature has strengthened other laws related to driving under the influence violations. Beginning January 1, 2009, DUI offenders will face enhanced sentencing requirements which will require the installation of ignition interlock devices that would prevent a vehicle from starting or continuing to operate if alcohol is detected on the driver's breath.

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Ohio State Senator John Carey recently voiced his concern that the Ohio Controlling Board acted too hastily by approving the spending of $6.4 million for new drunk driving testing machines. Senator Carey's opinions surfaced following the release of several reports in The Plain Dealer which describe how thousands of driving under the influence cases have been delayed or dismissed due to questions of accuracy of the Intoxilyzer 8000. The Ohio Controlling Board plans to utilize the funds to purchase several Intoxilyzer 8000 models for distribution across the state.

Late last Friday, Senator Carey wrote a letter to President of the Controlling Board, Joe Secrest, voicing his concern over the newly drafted contract and requesting that funding approval be put on hold until several issues regarding the Intoxilyzer 8000 can be addressed. Senator Carey also stated in the letter that he is concerned about the lawsuits against the company that manufactures the Intoxilyzer 8000, CMI Inc. Carey wrote, "My greatest concern is that, as a result of pending litigation in other states, DWI offenders could potentially get off as a result of using these machines...At the very least, it seems likely we will be in for lengthy and costly litigation issues surrounding CMI's refusal to release source code information...have been cleared up."

Adding to Senator Carey's speculation of the new contract between the state of Ohio and CMI, Inc., it has come to light that the Chief of the Bureau of Alcohol and Drug Testing at the Ohio Department of Health, Dean Ward, has admitted to maintaining friendships with individuals employed by CMI. Ward was the individual who made the decision to offer the exclusive contract to CMI. CMI is charging the state of Ohio almost $9,000 per machine, while other states that used a competitive bidding process ended up paying significantly less for their breath testing equipment.

National Patent President John Fusco stated that he could not understand why the state of Ohio would agree to an exclusive deal with an out of state company, especially in light of the newsworthy legal troubles CMI has been enduring over the past several months. CMI competitors, including National Patent Analytical Systems, Inc., who made about ninety percent of DUI testing machines currently used within the state of Ohio, accused Ward of steering the contract to his friends at CMI.

In defense of his decision to enter into a contract with CMI, Ward stated that he has used CMI's products since his years as a Cincinnati police officer and that in his experiences with the Intoxilyzer 8000, he found the machine to be incredibly reliable. Ward emphasized that his decision to utilize CMI's products was not based on his friendship with CMI's employees and that the Ohio Department of Public Safety would work to address Senator Carey's concerns.

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Recent reports have named Montana as the most dangerous state for drunk driving. In 2007, the state of Montana reported 106 alcohol related fatalities, which is an average of 11.1 drunk driving deaths for every 100,000 people. This number has shown a slight increase since 2006, where an average 10.9 driving under the influence deaths were reported for every 100,000 people.

Jim Lynch, director of Montana's Department of Transportation provided several reasons for Montana's high level of DUI fatalities, stating, "Eighty percent of travel in Montana is on rural roads. So most crashes involve speeds in excess of 55 miles per hour. A more urban state like Massachusetts has less than 6% of its drivers on rural roads- the majority of its traffic is in urban environments at slow speeds. We also have much longer emergency response times because of the distance; the average response time in Massachusetts is about 20 minutes, while in Montana it's an hour and 20 minutes. So an accident in Montana is far more likely to be life threatening."

South Carolina was determined to be the state with the second highest number of drunk driving fatalities, with an average of 10.5 alcohol related deaths per 100,000 people. Mississippi, Wyoming, and Louisiana rounded out the top five, with 10.35, 9.37, and 8.57 fatalities per 100,000 people, respectively.

Wyoming's status as a "bridge" for travelers could be a possible contributing factor for the high number of traffic fatalities. Additionally, Wyoming is one of ten states that has determined sobriety checkpoints to be unconstitutional, despite a United States Supreme Court ruling in 1990 that stated otherwise.

In order to determine which states had the highest drunk driving death tolls, researchers reviewed the drunk driving fatality data for 2007 compiled in the Fatality Analysis Reporting System and the General Estimates System, which is released by the National Center for Statistics and Analysis, a division of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Researchers then multiplied the data by 100,000 and divided the result by the census population estimates for 2007 to determine their final numbers.

In response to the reported statistics, spokeswoman for the National Highway Transit Safety Administration, Ellen Martin, stated, "Alcohol related vehicle accident numbers have not been tilting downward over the last decade. We're hopeful that we may see a downward trend, but police are dealing with more and more hardcore drinkers as years go by."

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An internal investigation instigated by the South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) several months ago to investigate the circumstances surrounding ten DUI plea bargains approved by Lance Corporal David Smith has reached completion and no criminal wrongdoing has been identified.

According to reports, Lance Corporal Smith reduced the ten driving under the influence cases last October, but did not turn over the paperwork associated with the cases until late January of this year. Adding further cause for concern, the documents revealed that seven of the ten drivers who had their cases reduced were represented by South Carolina State Senator Brad Hutto. Additionally, in six of the ten DUI cases, the individuals accused of driving under the influence had blood alcohol concentrations ranging from 0.13 to 0.16. Refusals to submit to chemical testing and instances of individuals driving with suspended licenses were also reported in several of the cases, which under normal circumstances are punishable by enhanced sentences. However, in these cases, the offenders were allowed to plead guilty to reduced reckless driving charges and pay a $440 fine.

Following the initiation of the internal investigation, Lance Corporal Smith revealed to SLED investigators that he felt he was placed at a disadvantage in court by having to argue his DUI cases before a Hutto-appointed magistrate. In South Carolina, state senators make their recommendations for judgeships to the governor, who then seeks confirmation from the entire senate body. Lance Corporal Smith emphasized the disadvantage he faced in court, stating, "Brad appoints the judge, makes a motion and the judge agrees."

In response to Lance Corporal Smith's allegations, Senator Hutto stated that he disagreed with the accusation that he had any influence on the courts. Accordingly, Senator Hutto acknowledged that the magistrates "rule against me just as much as they do anybody else." The Senator also voiced his opinion that had the DUI cases actually been tried, he would have won a majority of the cases, which supports Lance Corporal Smith's decision to offer reduced sentences to the offenders.

Though no criminal wrongdoing was identified for Senator Hutto or Lance Corporal Smith's roles in the plea bargains, Smith was disciplined for violating law enforcement rules and procedures. Lieutenant Colonel M.L. Howard of the South Carolina Highway Patrol addressed Lance Corporal David Smith's actions, stating, "Your actions were in violation of troop procedures requiring you to inform your supervisor in writing before disposing of DUI cases by any other means with the exception of trial by jury or bench trial." Lieutenant Colonel Howard also emphasized to Lance Corporal Smith that any future violations could result in additional disciplinary measures.

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In a recent report published by the PEW Center entitled, "One in 100: Behind Bars in America 2008", Texas was recognized as a forerunner in the integration of new criminal justice practices. Most notably, the state was identified as the largest user of a high-tech, alternative sentencing program known as Continuous Alcohol Monitoring (CAM) Programs. The CAM Program focuses on providing a solution to the root cause of the DUI epidemic, alcohol addiction.

The CAM Program relies on a high-tech anklet which is worn continuously by the DUI offender. The anklet tests the offender's sweat every thirty minutes for any traces of alcohol in the individual's system. This anklet, also known as a Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitor (SCRAM), completely automates the alcohol testing and reporting process, providing local courts and corrections agencies with the ability to monitor the alcohol content in a DUI offenders' body continuously and efficiently. The average cost of the SCRAM system is $12 per day, the costs of which are largely covered by the offender. Comparably, it costs the state and local taxpayers approximately $44 a day to house these high-risk, multiple DUI offenders in jail.

Currently, seventy one of Texas's two hundred and fifty four counties have access to the in-demand technology and reports indicate that the SCRAM system is currently monitoring 1,300 DUI offenders in the state of Texas alone. The state of Michigan monitors the second largest daily number of SCRAM clients, totaling nine hundred offenders statewide.

Texas corrections officials stated that the main objective of the CAM program is to target high-risk, repeat DUI offenders who have a drinking problem. Mike Iiams, Chairman and CEO of Alcohol Monitoring Systems, Inc. explained, "These individuals aren't driving drunk over and over because they want to break the law, they're driving drunk because they have a drinking problem, and when they drink, bad things happen...This isn't just a criminal issue, and it's not an automobile issue. This is an addiction issue." By monitoring alcohol intake of high risk individuals on a daily basis, the courts and local law enforcement are constantly aware of any alcohol violations made by the offender which could possibly lead to another drunk driving offense.

Furthermore, statistics indicate that SCRAM monitoring not only aids in the monitoring of repeat offenders, but also has a significant, life-changing impact on the lives of the offenders. According to retired Texas District Court Judge Vickers Cunningham, "It's easy to lock people up and throw away the key. But all you have to do is look at the repeat offender statistics to know that just wasn't working. What I quickly began to find with alcohol-addicted offenders is that, when you effectively remove alcohol from the equation 24/7, they begin to become productive members of the community. They pay taxes, they work, and they support their families. It changes lives."

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On Monday, an undercover sting operation was set up outside of the Oakland Superior Court designed to catch individuals driving with suspended licenses. The plan revolved around several undercover Oakland police officers sitting in court in order to establish who had their license suspended. After determining who was ordered by the judge to cease driving, the undercover officers relayed descriptions of the individuals to police officers outside the courthouse. Those officers than stood by to follow the individuals with suspended licenses out of the courthouse in order to determine whether the individuals would choose to drive regardless of their suspended license.

While several individuals chose to abide by the suspension and take public transportation home, six other individuals were caught driving home from court. The individuals identified by law enforcement officers as driving with a suspended license will have their vehicles impounded for thirty days and will also be responsible for paying the impound, tow, and administrative fees.

Recently, law enforcement officers have begun to recognize that just because an individual has their license suspended does not necessarily mean they are going to abide by that instruction. In a specific case which occurred yesterday, Wilbert Ballard chose to drive home after being told by the judge that his driving privileges were suspended. Of Mr. Ballard's situation, Sergeant Mark Dunakin stated, "He was told he didn't have the right to drive, that his privilege to drive was taken away or suspended. Even after this case, he decided to go back to his car parked a block from court and try to drive home."

Spokesman for the Oakland Police Department, Officer Jeff Thomason, stated that undercover stings, such as the one that took place on Monday, are necessary steps in order to decrease the number of vehicle related accidents that take place in Oakland every year. According to reports, approximately 14,000 accidents occur every year in Oakland and about a third of those accidents are hit and run crashes which involve unlicensed or uninsured drivers.

Sergeant Dunakin said that in some circumstances, drivers arrested in similar sting operations attempt to argue that the judge assigned to their case never told them that they were not allowed to drive. However, upon finding out that plainclothes officers had been stationed in the courtroom during the judge's instructions, the individuals typically abandon that argument rather quickly.

This sting operation is the fifth of its kind staged by the Oakland Police designed to catch individuals driving with suspended licenses. Additionally, local police officers have also begun to catch individuals driving with suspended licenses at DUI checkpoints. Last Friday on International Boulevard in Oakland, police officers made only three DUI arrests but caught forty four motorists driving with suspended licenses.

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For the first time since 1963, the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming has updated their traffic laws, establishing much stricter penalties for drunk driving offenses. The most notable of these changes is the lowering of the blood alcohol concentration limit and the establishment of a zero tolerance policy for repeat DUI offenders. Prior to updating the reservation's traffic regulations, the reservation's drunk driving laws required individuals convicted of driving with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.10% or higher to pay a fine of $250 and a court fee of $10.

Under the updated traffic laws, the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Tribes have established a lower blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limit which is stricter than Wyoming's state laws. The newly established legal limit for drivers on the Wind River Indian Reservation is a blood alcohol concentration of 0.05%, compared to Wyoming's state mandated limit of 0.08%. Additionally, the new laws are increasingly harsh on repeat drunk driving offenders. Once an individual has been convicted of driving under the influence, the conviction triggers a future "zero tolerance" policy, where any detectable level of alcohol in the individual's blood while driving is considered a subsequent offense.

Convicted first time DUI offenders will be fined between $500 and $1,000, while repeat offenders will be fined $750 to $2,000. Repeat offenders will also be sentenced to thirty days to a year in jail. Fortunately, the individual's jail sentence can be waived if the individual completes a court-approved alcohol and drug safety education program.

Leslie Shakespeare, Chairman of the joint Shoshone-Arapaho Code Revision Committee, explained the reasons for the reservation's decision to establish harsher DUI penalties, stating, "One is a sovereignty issue. If tribal members are going to write laws for the tribes and tribal memberships, our laws shouldn't reflect anything else but what we feel we need. Secondly, we looked at DUI laws not only nationally, but internationally, and a lot of countries across the world have a standard below .08. In fact, the U.S. has one of the highest average limits in the world; most countries are lower."

Most countries in the European Union have already lowered their blood alcohol concentration limits to below 0.08%. Canada, Argentina, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Spain have all established blood alcohol concentration limits at 0.05% in an effort to reduce alcohol-related accidents and fatalities. Some countries, such as the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia, have established zero tolerance laws aimed at preventing individuals from driving with any measurable amount of alcohol in the blood.

According to Ivan Posey, Chairman of the Eastern Shoshone Tribe, driving under the influence of alcohol is one of the main causes of premature death on the Wind River Indian Reservation and poses a statistically greater threat of death to tribal members than any other factor, including drugs. Of the new laws, Posey stated, "Public safety was the first and foremost reason we changed these laws. There was really no deterrent, or very strong deterrent, to keep people from putting themselves and others in danger." Posey voiced his hope that the decrease in the Reservation's blood alcohol concentration limit will inspire the state of Wyoming to revise its' own DUI laws.

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A recent study funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has revealed that higher taxes on alcohol may help to cut down on the number of alcohol related fatalities. Using information collected from death certificates, Dr. Alexander Wagenaar, a professor at the University of Florida's Department of Epidemiology and Health Policy Research and his research team compiled a list of the number of deaths caused by alcohol and number of deaths linked to alcohol in Alaska between 1976 and 2004.

Alcohol related deaths in Alaska were compared with data from other states in order to control for common nationwide factors like population growth and advanced medical care. From this data comparison, researchers found twenty three fewer deaths per year after a 1983 alcohol tax hike and twenty one fewer deaths per year after a 2002 tax increase.

Alaska was chosen as the sample state for the study because of Alaska's large alcohol tax increase in 2002. Despite the fact that Alaska's general population is composed of fewer than one million people, researchers believe that the state is comparable to the rest of the nation in terms of epidemiological trends. Wagenaar supported his research team's decision to focus on drinking statistics from Alaska, stating, "There's no reason to think the experience in Alaska would be different than anywhere else. The study looks at the responsiveness of drinking."

However, Wagenaar and his group of researchers are not the only ones investigating this topic. A similar study was recently conducted in Finland, where researchers examined the relationship between alcohol taxes and alcohol related deaths. Finland is an ideal country to test this link in, because, for many years, Finland maintained a very high tax rate on alcohol. However, in 2004, the Finnish government lowered the alcohol tax between thirty three and forty four percent in order to maintain a high level of domestic alcohol sales.

Following this drastic tax decrease, alcohol consumption levels increased nearly fifty percent from the previous year. Finnish researchers concluded, "Taxation has indeed been found to be the most cost-effective measure in reducing alcohol consumption. Raising alcohol tax level has low costs and is effective in reducing alcohol consumption and thus alcohol-related harms." Researchers also determined that the number of drunk and disorderly conduct arrests increased by over ten percent following the tax decrease.

Wagenaar and his researchers have linked their evidence to a broader, more general trend which was also observed following increases in taxes on tobacco. According to Wagenaar, "When the excise tax on tobacco went up, consumption went down and the diseases associated with tobacco also went down. Now, with the current study, we're finding the same thing for alcohol. Simply adjusting taxes has quite a noticeable rate on alcohol deaths. They parallel each other quite a bit."

In addition to the public health implications of raising alcohol taxes, alcohol excise taxes could also be used to benefit the flailing economy, "Given state budgets are in the toilet bowl, it's an available source of revenue that has not been looked to for a very long time. The tax increases are long overdue. The product doesn't pay its way in covering economic and social costs associated with its use."

However, while researchers and state legislators are publicizing the positive effects an increase in alcohol tax would have, the American Beverage Licensees (ABL), who represent retailers of beer, wine, and spirits, have voiced their strong opposition to the proposed tax increase. According to the Executive Director of the American Beverage Licensees, Harry Wiles, "Based on historical evidence, raising taxes on alcohol beverages would have a highly negative impact on the economy. Increasing alcohol taxes could lead diminishing returns for the government should responsible, moderate consumers decrease their consumption." It is the belief of the alcohol industry that raising taxes would penalize the responsible social drinkers, not the alcohol abusers, who most likely would not be deterred by an increase in the price of alcohol.

Ultimately, efforts to raise taxes on alcohol have been deemed neo-Prohibitionist by both the alcohol industry and by mainstream America, despite the availability of evidence which reveals that increasing alcohol taxes may be an effective means of driving down the number of driving under the influence and alcohol related accidents and fatalities. George Hacker, Director of Alcohol Policies Project for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, argued that, "The legacy of Prohibition leaves sour tastes about doing anything about curbing alcohol use. It conjures images of Prohibition. The industry stokes it as much as it can. The industry uses the imagery and metaphor of freedom and civil right, almost like it is a civil right to drink, given it was once prohibited."

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Recently, the Associated Press reported a story which detailed a Texas man's release from jail who was arrested for first offense driving under the influence in Nebraska. The man was released after being allowed to pay ten percent of the $2,000 bond posted, without ever facing a judge. This arrangement was based on the criminal justice department's belief that the man, Robert Hood, was under arrest for his first DUI offense. However, this was not the man's first DUI arrest, or even his second or third. This was Robert Hood's fourth driving under the influence arrest in three states over the last two weeks.

According to authorities, the FBI-run computer system which catalogues all driving under the influence arrests only provides information on individuals who were fingerprinted upon being taken to prison and commonly, information from recent arrests is delayed getting into the system, as was the case with Hood. Sarpy County Judge Todd Hutton, who sits on the bench in suburban Omaha stated, "If judges are made aware of other pending charges, it could justify a higher bond to [ensure] the person appears in court. The judges make their decisions based on the information they are provided. They can't act on information that is not brought to their attention." At the time of his fourth DUI arrest in Nebraska, the system did not display Hood's three previous DUI arrests, one in Wyoming and two in South Dakota.

This issue of incomplete information is not isolated to incidents where the DUI arrests occurred in more than one state. Cases have been reported where officials were unaware of pending driving under the influence cases within their own state borders. According to Warren County Sheriff Martin pace, "In Mississippi we enter everything into the system, misdemeanors and felonies both. Not all states do that; some jurisdictions don't enter misdemeanors. If somebody gets a DUI conviction in New Jersey and then another in Tennessee and then gets one here, we may not ever know about their prior convictions. If they're not entered into the system then we'll never know."

In response to the numerous flaws of the current computer database, the FBI is planning to launch a new pilot program that would alert authorities when a defendant has multiple DUI charges pending, both in state and out of state. The National Data Exchange, or N-DEx for short, is designed to link all local, state, and federal records in one database for easy access. N-DEx takes 360 different data elements found on arrest reports and catalogues the information so that each element can be searched, linked, analyzed, and shared nationwide.

The FBI's goal is to incorporate all of the state's information into N-DEx by 2010. The potential drawback to this plan is the fact that the submission of data to N-DEx is completely voluntary, which could delay the collection of data significantly. However, the FBI is convinced that the N-DEx pilot program will be highly effective at cutting back the number of individuals who are allowed to slip through the cracks of the criminal justice system.

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In Camden, Tennessee, local residents are questioning whether driving under the influence charges were dropped against Thomas Noah Todd because his grandmother, Mary Phyll Waggoner is currently completing a term as an alderman and once served as mayor of the city of Camden.

Todd was arrested after being identified by police for swerving on a road entering the city of Camden. Once Officer Kenneth Beal had pulled Todd over to begin his DUI investigation, Todd threw his truck into reverse, backing into the front end of Officer Beal's response vehicle. Following Todd's refusal to submit to a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) test, Todd was booked on charges of driving under the influence with refusal to submit to a chemical test. Reflecting on the arrest, Officer Beal stated, "He did smell strongly of alcohol. I do believe, according to the law, he was DUI."

However, despite the officer's own admission that he believed Todd to be driving under the influence of alcohol, when Todd showed up in court three days later, there was no pending DUI charge; only a lesser charge of reckless driving. As a result of the reckless driving charge, Todd was instructed to pay a fine of seventy five dollars and his license was restricted for a period of six months.

Officer Beal explained that because Todd refused to submit to a blood alcohol concentration test, he felt that he did not have enough evidence to charge him with DUI, "I just didn't have enough evidence for that charge, but I did for the reckless driving." However, the law makes special recommendations for individuals who refuse to submit to chemical testing, suspending an individual's license automatically for one year, compared to the customary six months for a first offense driving under the influence charge.

Officer Beal stated that the decision to charge Todd with a lesser offense did not occur as a result of pressure from Alderman Waggoner. To the contrary, Officer Beal asserted that he has arrested the alderman's other grandchildren, so he would have no reason to submit to pressure from the alderman in this specific incident.

Waggoner stated that she was not involved in the reduction of charges against her grandson, emphasizing, "I would not try to influence a policeman to change anyone's ticket because it's not right." However, in the city of Camden, an alderman serves a purpose similar to that of a city council member, a position which provides considerable control over members of local agencies, especially the Police Department.

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Seattle-based legal directory, Avvo, has launched a new iPhone application that not only calculates one's blood alcohol concentration (BAC), but also provides the number of local cab companies if one's blood alcohol concentration exceeds 0.08% and offers recommendations for driving under the influence lawyers if the individual happens to get pulled over by the police.

The application, properly titled Last Call, allows users to log the number of drinks consumed during a set period of time. The application also takes into account what type of beverage the individual is consuming, the size of the beverage, and the person's age, gender, and weight. Based on this information, Last Call graphically displays the individual's BAC results, which are constantly updated to reflect continued consumption and the passage of time. When an individual's blood alcohol concentration reaches 0.08%, the line on the graph turns red, as do the corresponding numbers.

Avvo developers began discussing the idea of developing such an application for the iPhone after realizing that 'DUI' was one of the most popular terms searched on the company's online attorney directory. Avvo developers even tested the accuracy of Last Call at local bars, where they calibrated the blood alcohol concentration calculator against an actual breathalyzer machine. According to developers, Last Call proved to be quite accurate.

Avvo CEO Mark Britton emphasized the usefulness of the application, stating, "Last Call is awesome because on the front end we can help you understand where you are in your alcohol consumption. But, secondarily, if you have drunk too much and you need a taxi on the one hand or you have been picked up and need a DUI lawyer, you can get both of those in real time."

Despite the accuracy and usefulness of Last Call, it took a while for the application to be approved by Apple's legal counsel. Because Avvo could be opening itself up to potential legal pitfalls by making Last Call widely available, the company has taken the necessary precautions by putting a number of disclaimers in place. A description of the service in the iPhone store emphasizes that, "Last Call is provided for entertainment purposes only."

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Public defenders' offices in at least seven states across the country have announced that they will soon be forced to refuse to take on new cases. Additionally, several public defenders' offices have sued to limit the number of cases each lawyer in their office is allowed to handle at one time. The public defenders' offices have justified these extreme measures by stating that overwhelming workloads, in conjunction with state budget cuts and a rising number of cases, undermine the constitutional right to counsel for the poor and increase the likelihood that serious mistakes might be made.

Despite the fact that the United States Supreme Court decided in 1963 that economically disadvantaged defendants are entitled to government subsidized representation, many people are in favor of the public defenders' offices decision to limit the number of cases they handle. David J. Carroll, Director of Research for the National Legal Aid and Defender Association, supported the office's caseload reductions, stating that, "Right now a lot of public defenders are starting to stand up and say, 'No more: we can't ethically handle this many cases."

One of the first examples of the proposed caseload reductions being put into action occurred in September 2008, when a Florida judge ruled that the public defenders' office in Miami-Dade County could refuse to represent individuals charged with lesser felonies so that public defenders would be free to concentrate their increased attention on more serious felony cases. Similarly, in Kentucky, State Public Advocate Ed Monahan has filed a lawsuit to allow public defenders' offices to turn down cases that they feel they cannot ethically handle. Such lawsuits are also currently pending in Tennessee, Minnesota, Maryland, and Arizona.

The overburdening of the public defenders' offices is not solely derived from cuts in the budget. A drastic increase in the number of cases yields a much higher number of individuals who will request assistance from the public defenders' office.

In Missouri, the criminal justice system has not added staff members to the state's public defender offices in eight years, despite the fact that the number of cases taken on by the office has increased by approximately 12,000 cases per year. As is the case in Florida, where over the past three years, the average number of felony cases handled by a public defender has increased from 367 to nearly five hundred. The caseload of misdemeanor cases for public defenders has also increased, from approximately 1,380 cases to a staggering 2,225 cases per year.

While Bennett H. Brummer, Elected Chief Defender of the 11th Judicial Circuit of Florida, argues that the public defenders' office has been crippled by the 12.6 percent budget cut over the last two years and 29 percent increase in casework over the last four years, Florida State Senator Victor D. Crist disagrees, arguing that Brummer and his colleagues are overreacting. According to Senator Crist, the judicial system has faced much smaller cuts compared to other divisions of the budget. Additionally, because no defendant should be denied due process, Senator Crist believes that the public defenders' offices need to work on increasing efficiency and imposing small fees on clients to cover heightened costs, as opposed to outsourcing their additional cases. In response to Senator Crist's accusations, Mr. Brummer stated, "There's a race to the bottom here. As the loads worsen, the more experienced lawyers leave. But the cases continue to come in."

Problems have also arisen in New York City, where city and state financing for criminal defense was cut by nearly three million dollars, while the number of cases in the criminal justice system increased by about fifteen thousand. In response, New York City's Legal Aid Society is planning to present a bill to the City Council which would set a cap on the number of cases each public defender can handle each year. Unfortunately, in order for this proposition to succeed, an increase in funds is necessary to cover the cost of additional lawyers, which is unlikely to happen due to New York's large budget shortfalls.

The state of Michigan is facing issues of its own, due to its practice of requiring counties to protect the indigent without providing state funds to do so. In some counties, individuals who are charged with misdemeanors are not even offered the services of a lawyer. In other counties, judges outsource the cases at a flat rate, which provides a strong incentive to skimp on an individual's defense. Despite the county and state official's acknowledgement of the problems engrained within the system, the counties say that the problems cannot be fixed without the support of state funds.

Ultimately, the budget cuts and increase in caseloads have pushed too many public defenders to the breaking point, forcing them to realize that taking on so many cases is not only stressful, but irresponsible. Norman Lefstein, a professor at the Indiana University School of Law and an expert on criminal justice argues that the most immediate impact of the shortage of public defenders is that innocent defendants may feel pressured to plead guilty or may be wrongly convicted based on incomplete evidence and an inadequate defense. In addition, once these decisions have been made, they can be very difficult to correct because appeals based on inadequate defense are very difficult to win.

However, not all states have been forced to refuse incoming cases. In order to prevent the office's refusal of potential cases, Nevada, Louisiana, and Montana all recently began hiring additional public defenders to lighten caseloads. Unfortunately, the hiring of additional lawyers may not be a viable option for every state facing an increase in cases due to the nation's ubiquitous budget crisis. At any rate, an alternative to the present system needs to be proposed, for while it is undesirable for public defenders to turn clients away, it is unacceptable for mistakes to be made due to a severely overburdened system.

Thanks Katie.

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In Volusia County, Florida, an internal affairs investigation has been launched to examine the circumstances surrounding Officer Chris Selander's release of Sergeant Kenneth Vickery following a DUI traffic stop. It has been revealed that Officer Selander was aware of Sergeant Vickery's intoxicated condition and chose not to charge him with driving under the influence.

According to reports, at about 1:20 a.m. on Sunday, November 2, Officer Chris Selander came across two individuals sleeping on the beach at Oceanview Avenue, one of which he recognized as Seargent Kenneth Vickery. At the time, Officer Selander noted a strong odor of alcohol emitting from Vickery's and his companion's mouth. After waking the two individuals, Officer Selander instructed the two to stay on the beach in order to avoid a potential driving under the influence charge. However, Sergeant Vickery did not heed this advice and was observed by Officer Selander a short while later driving north on South Atlantic in his 1999 Ford truck.

After recognizing Sergeant Vickery's vehicle, he chose to follow him, where he subsequently observed Vickery's truck cross over the white shoulder line three separate times and swerve onto the grassy shoulder four additional times. Officer Selander finally decided to pull Sergeant Vickery over after watching him cross the double yellow line numerous times, calling in for backup from Sergeant Greg Miles. Officer Selander provided no explanation for this atypical request for reinforcement.

An audiotape of the traffic stop which was recently released by law enforcement revealed that Officer Selander was aware that Sergeant Vickery was intoxicated and that he chose to release him without charging him with driving under the influence. On the tape, Officer Selander addressed Sergeant Vickery, stating, "Sergeant Greg Miles is going to come and get you. I'm not going to arrest you. You can relax. You know you've been drinking probably a little too much. I saw the alcohol in the car. I can smell it."

Several minutes later, the tape reveals that Sergeant Vickery became hostile, arguing that he had done nothing wrong and insisting that he had not crossed any lines on the road, hadn't swerved, and had not been speeding. When asked how many drinks he had consumed that night, Sergeant Vickery responded, "Before I got in my truck or after I got in my truck?"

This interaction continued for several more minutes with Officer Selander threatening several times to place Sergeant Vickery under arrest, stating, "Yeah, you can apologize in my jail cell. I'm getting real tired. You can still get a bunch of tickets. So change your attitude real quick because this whole thing is being recorded. I'm going to document everything." However, after everything was said and done, Sergeant Vickery was only cited for an improper lane change, without any mention of driving under the influence charges.

Despite these serious allegations, neither Sergeant Vickery nor Officer Selander have been placed on leave while the internal affairs investigations are being conducted.

This incident is only one of many recent reports of police officers concealing the drunk driving of fellow officers, which leads on to question the fairness and impartiality of the criminal justice system as a whole.

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It has become increasingly common over the past several years for police officers to utilize pre-written DUI arrest reports in order to document drunk driving cases. Reasons for this dishonesty range from the officer's desire to save time to the need to present convincing evidence that an individual was driving under the influence, even in situations where such evidence is not available. Additionally, these acts of deceitfulness are not isolated incidents. Such acts have been recorded across the country.

For example, in 2001, Illinois State Police trooper Joan Blomenkamp was charged for filing dozens of false DUI reports. Blomenkamp's actions were only discovered after her police reports were compared to videotape evidence which had been collected in several of her cases. These tapes directly contradicted Blomenkamp's written description of events.

More recently, in Florida, a local news station uncovered dozens of DUI cases where pre-written arrest reports were blatantly utilized. In one case, investigators discovered that a local law enforcement officer had used the same exact phrase in at least ten different arrest reports written during a six month period, regardless of the individual's blood alcohol concentration.

Attorneys have begun to recognize the increasing commonality of this occurrence and have suggested that videotape evidence would help to cut down on the number of false police reports filed and would also prevent individuals from being wrongly convicted of driving under the influence.

Utah criminal defense attorney Jason Schatz has been a voracious supporter of requiring dashboard cameras in police vehicles, arguing that videotaping DUI arrests is a matter of fairness. In an effort to encourage Utah legislators to adopt mandatory videotaping of DUI arrests, Schatz stated, "You look at the police report and you'd think this person is falling down drunk, then you see the tape and you say, 'Wait a minute, that doesn't look the way it was described on paper.'"

Schatz says that in his years of experience as a criminal defense attorney, he has tried numerous cases where videotape evidence shot during the field sobriety testing of a client directly contradicts what an officer wrote down in the police report. Because of the severe repercussions for individuals convicted of driving under the influence, Schatz argues that requiring the installation of dashboard cameras is a necessary precaution that must be taken in order to prevent the prosecution of individuals who may have be charged with DUI based on the whims of an overzealous police officer. Schatz points out that, "It is a huge problem if it's your license at stake and that could mean your job or going to jail."

However, not everyone agrees that videotaping DUI arrests is a worthwhile use of money. Chief Prosecutor for Salt Lake City, Utah, Sim Gill, feels that videotape evidence most often does not make or break pending DUI cases. Gill would rather see money spent on other divisions of law enforcement, like increasing funding for domestic violence shelters and providing medical attention to mentally ill prison inmates.

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Several counties across California have received sizeable grants from the California Office of Traffic Safety (COTS) in order to heighten DUI enforcement efforts and expand education programs for the public. Three counties in particular, Los Angeles County, Orange County, and Humboldt County, are receiving heightened press attention for their proposed changes to existing DUI prevention programs.

In Los Angeles County, the Glendora Police Department has been awarded more than $1.5 million in order to coordinate drunk driving enforcement throughout the Southern California region this holiday season. For the fourth year in a row, the Glendora Police Department has been designated as the "host" department for the Los Angeles county's "Avoid the 100" program. Glendora received the second largest of five grants awarded this year in connection with the "Avoid the 100" DUI enforcement program.

Most of the funding for the "Avoid the 100" DUI prevention program is targeted towards educating the public on the dangers of driving drunk, as opposed to utilizing the funds in order to arrest more individuals found to be driving under the influence. However, some of the money will be earmarked for increased numbers of police checkpoints, warrant sweeps, and blood alcohol testing equipment. According to local police, this grant could not come at a better time of year because the holiday season tends to accumulate the highest number of drunk driving fatalities.

Glendora police program coordinator, Wendy Soos, and California Office of Traffic Safety spokesman, Chris Cochran, both stated that they believe that the "Avoid the 100" program has been highly effective at reducing driving under the influence related accidents and fatalities since its establishment in 1973. Cochran even credited the "Avoid" for the 6.7% decrease in DUI related fatalities in California in 2007. Soos voiced her approval of the increased funding of the "Avoid" program, stating that, "If you can educate (the public) and stop somebody from killing someone, then you've done your job."

Further south, the Costa Mesa police department in Orange County received a $300,000 grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety in order to increase the number of DUI checkpoints, saturation patrols, and sting operations executed next year. More specifically, the funds will be targeted towards conducting warrant searches and stakeouts for repeat DUI offenders and for stakeouts outside of local courthouses in order to determine whether individuals convicted of driving under the influence and who have had their licenses suspended, are following the law.

In Northern California, the Eureka Police Department in Humboldt County was provided with a $49,000 grant to assist in reducing the number of individuals injured in alcohol and drug related collisions. Eureka Police Department traffic officer Gary Witmer voiced his approval of the grant, stating that the funding was long overdue, "Our DUI collisions are high and our DUI arrests are low. It's amazing how bad our rankings are." According to statistics for 2007 provided by the California Office of Transportation, 177 of 1,072 traffic collisions in Humboldt County were alcohol related.

One of the main problems Witmer cited in Eureka's DUI prevention campaign was a shortness of funds to pay for additional personnel. While the grant will not lead to the hiring of additional officers, the money will instead be used to pay overtime to officers involved in DUI enforcement programs and patrols.

One of the methods that the Eureka Police Department plans to implement in order to cut down on drunk driving violations is to implement sting operations in court. As part of this proposal, plainclothes officers will sit in on traffic court proceedings in order to determine who has DUI related offenses. The officers will then trail the suspects to the court parking lot to investigate whether the individual is violating their license suspension. Witmer has even suggested that officers will, in the future, be instructed to stake out the homes of habitual DUI offenders in order to make sure that the individuals do not get behind the wheel of a car.

In support of these proposed DUI enforcement measures, Eureka Police Chief Garr Nielsen stated that, "The Eureka Police Department has a zero tolerance policy relative to this crime and has established the enforcement of DUI laws as one of our highest priorities."

Ultimately, as these three counties illustrate, these grants translate into dramatically heightened DUI enforcement procedures, which will most certainly be observed across California in the coming months, especially during the holiday season.

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At the beginning of this year, the Arizona legislature announced that the state's crime lab budget would be cut in half, leaving only $7.8 million annually for testing. In response to this cut and in an effort to curb excessive spending, the Payson Police Department has decided to hold back about eighty percent of physical evidence processed by the Department of Public Safety (DPS).

With the adoption of this new policy, evidence would be processed on a case by case basis, depending on whether the case was going to progress to trial. This differs from the Payson Police Department's past policy where, for example, a blood sample from anyone arrested for driving under the influence was automatically sent to the DPS crime lab for processing.

Last year, the town of Payson ran up a crime lab bill of nearly $200,000 after submitting 800 different evidence samples for testing. In an effort to reduce the cost burden on the small town, the Department of Public Safety shifted funds from the Gang and Immigration Intelligence Team Enforcement Mission and applied the funds to the city's crime lab bill. While the cost to the city was sharply reduced as a result of this action, a remaining balance of $30,000 for last year's services still remained to be paid.

Even with this drop in price, the town is ill prepared to pay off this debt because the city's 2008 budget does not include any allocution of funds for evidence processing. Therefore, the town of Payson has been forced to decide which cases truly warrant spending on evidence processing. Chief Don Engler explained the Payson Police Department's decision to limit evidence testing, stating, "We have to limit our expenses as best we can. We are still in a holding pattern trying to see what we want to do."

Although Payson is attempting to cut costs with as little impact on pending cases as possible by addressing the request for evidence testing on a case by case basis, this new policy forces prosecutors to decide whether they want to go to trial before having the necessary evidence in hand. Detective Matt Van Camp stated, "This makes the prosecutor's job harder. Crime labs also prove people innocent, not just guilty."

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St. Petersburg, Florida police officer Robbie Arkovich is facing strict disciplinary measures after investigators discovered that he was posting pictures on his personal website that he took while on duty investigating a number of driving under the influence incidents.

Officer Arkovich's actions were discovered after an individual recognized pictures of his son, who was involved in a DUI related accident in May 2008, posted on Arkovich's personal website. The man contacted Police Chief Chuck Harmon and an Internal Affairs investigation of the website was launched. As a result of the investigation, Internal Affairs determined that a number of the photos posted in the "Photo of the Day" section of Arkovich's site depicted various police activities surrounding driving under the influence investigations. One of the more inappropriate photos depicted a man performing a field sobriety test on the side of the road while nude.

Following the completion of the investigation, Officer Arkovich admitted that he had been taking photos of his DUI investigations for about eight years. He argued that he planned to utilize the photos as learning tools for cadets at the police academy where he teaches and for local high school students where he gives presentations cautioning students to the risks associated with driving under the influence.

According to investigators, Officer Arkovich utilized his own personal photography equipment while on duty to capture the images of his and other officer's driving under the influence investigations. As a result of the Internal Affairs investigation, an administrative order was issued in August prohibiting Officer Arkovich from taking any more photos while on duty for non-work related reasons. In response, Officer Arkovich stated that he never intended to violate any department policies or procedures.

In February 2008, Officer Arkovich reached his 1,000th DUI arrest, the most department veterans can remember by a single officer. Arkovich was also honored by Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) in 1999 for his dedication to DUI enforcement.

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A Sarasota County judge has thrown out the breath test results of seven individuals charged with driving under the influence after evidence surfaced that law enforcement officials did not inspect the breath test machine following a repair made in March 2008. The breath testing equipment was allegedly not inspected for nearly six months following the repairs, which expressly disobeys the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's (FDLE) ruling that a breath testing machine that undergoes repairs must be inspected by law enforcement before it can be used to collect DUI evidence against an individual accused of driving under the influence.

This discovery could potentially lead to the invalidation of nearly one hundred breath testing cases in Sarasota County which rely on breath test evidence collected by the Intoxilyzer 8000 breath testing machine, serial #1346. By excluding the results of the breath test, prosecutors would be barred from introducing evidence of the defendant's blood alcohol concentration (BAC) during trial. Blood alcohol evidence often plays a critical role in the conviction of individuals accused of driving under the influence.

In this case, the Intoxilyzer 8000, serial #1346, had a problem with its dry gas regulator, which is needed for the automated control tests that occur before and after the breath test. Without a properly functioning dry gas regulator, the machine will not work and may provide falsified readings. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) replaced the dry gas regulator on March 5, 2008 but failed to have a Sarasota County law enforcement agent conduct an inspection of the machine following the repairs, as is required by law.

Sarasota County prosecutors and law enforcement have argued that the replacement of the dry gas regulator should be considered maintenance, not repair. An official inspection by law enforcement is not required when a breath testing machine undergoes routine maintenance. In response to this assertion, Sarasota County Judge Phyllis Galen who handed down the ruling stated that the prosecution's argument was "unreasonable."

Although Judge Galen's ruling currently only impacts seven DUI cases, defense attorneys have jumped on the opportunity to argue that all of the breath testing results obtained by the Intoxilyzer 8000, serial #1346 following the March 5, 2008 repairs should be deemed invalid. Defense attorney Robert Harrison insisted that, "It's for seven people, but every breath test on that machine, between those dates, is no good."

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