Pennsylvania DUI Arrest Statistics
I recently came across some statistics about DUI arrests in York County:
York County ranks seventh in Pa. DUI arrests
York County had one of the highest rates of DUI arrests in the state from 2008-10.
But authorities aren’t sure whether that means the number of people who decided to drive under the influence is up or if police are getting better and more vigilant at tracking down offenders.
See the troubling thing with arrest numbers is they don’t tell the whole story. For example if police officer A makes 100 DUI arrests of which 60 resulted in convictions while officer B made 50 DUI arrests in which 48 resulted in convictions, who is the better officer? If you go by just arrest numbers, then officer A. This why arrest statistics can be very misleading.
Another aspect to take into consideration is today there are more DUI focused patrols and DUI checkpoints in PA than ever before. One of the problems with this approach is officers are “geared up” to make DUI arrests and this can lead to biased judgment calls and higher frequency of false arrests. Drowsy and clumsy drivers end up getting charged with DUIs because that is what the officers on those patrols are psychologically set to look for.
DUI is a problem that effects many lives and has many victims. There are those who are injured or killed in DUI related accidents and their loved ones and also those who are falsely arrested for DUI. In both cases you have innocent people who lives have been shattered needlessly and senselessly. My only wish is that we could use law enforcement practices that protect innocent citizens from both outcomes: being a victim of a DUI accident and being a victim of a false DUI arrest.
If you are a victim of a false DUI arrest, please call the PA DUI attorneys at The McShane Firm for a free case consultation at 1-866-MCSHANE.
The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration has rolled out a sparkling new ad campaign which you will surely be bombarded with over Pennsylvania’s airways. The ad campaign costs over $14 million dollars with millions more supporting the “crackdowns” all over the country. Additionally, the state Department of Transportation (PennDOT) has provided the state police and and DUI task forces throughout the state with about $3 million to put extra officers on impaired driving patrols and to set up DUI checkpoints.
Contact the Pennsylvania DUI attorneys at The McShane Firm if your rights are violated during the new crackdown
So what can the average driver expect to face as a result of this crackdown?
- Long delays and waits at DUI checkpoints where you are treated like a criminal and your rights are violated even if you are law abiding and had nothing to drink or were socially responsible in drinking.
- A high number of false arrests due to overzealous, under-trained police officers looking to show their “efficient” work through the numbers game of “high arrest totals.”
- Police using DUI checkpoints to seize property and issue non-DUI tickets and arrests to increase revenue.
In fact, police departments love these types of crackdowns because they are funded by the government. Officers get extra overtime pay and the departments get to fill their coffers with the proceeds from DUI checkpoints. Everyone wins except the common motorist.
Keep this in mind- DUI is all about the money. If the government was really sincere about keeping drunk drivers off the roads, it would spend more on proven treatment programs to rehabilitate alcoholics and on programs that educate the public about drunk driving about making better choices not as a fear tactic.
Remember if you are stopped for a DUI you have rights: Please see our Guide for Pennsylvania Motorists Accused of DUI.
As a DUI attorney who has fought cases all over Pennsylvania, I have seen way too many cases where the police have wrongfully arrested people all in the name of the “War on DUI.” I have seen people with cerebral palsy, cyclic vomiting syndrome, diabetes and even people driving horse buggies wrongfully arrested for DUI and now this:
PA DUI Attorney thinks that a DUI for a motorized wheelchair is taking DUI enforcement way too far
Woman in wheelchair charged with DUI in Cumberland County
Middlesex Township police have charged a woman riding a motorized wheelchair with driving under the influence of alcohol following an incident early this morning. Police said Connie Lebo, 63, was riding around the Country Manor mobile home park while intoxicated. While the park is private property, police have an agreement with the owner to enforce traffic laws there.
Police said they first received a report of a woman crawling around a yard in the mobile home park at 4:23 a.m. When they arrived, Lebo was sitting in her motorized wheelchair and appeared drunk, police said. She told the police she had crashed the wheelchair, police said.
Her blood alcohol level was .16, twice the legal limit for driving, police said.
Police said it is rare to charge someone in a wheelchair with DUI, but they have charged people riding bicycles, horses and lawnmowers.
While some people might find this funny, or file this under “odd news,” this story represents a real life person, who can’t walk, getting wrongfully victimized by the police. It is a remarkable lack of common sense and decency. She has been humiliated and must now pay high legal fees to defend her name because some cop charged her with a DUI. If she was truly publicly intoxicated or causing a nuisance, then there are laws associated with that type of violation, but riding a motorized wheelchair should never be a DUI.
While people may poke fun at cases like these, it is a sad commentary on what our society has come to in the name of DUI enforcement. Pennsylvania has become a police state and where cops can violate your civil rights without any retribution; that’s not very funny.
It is infinitely better to have a few good men than many indifferent ones.
-GEORGE WASHINGTON, letter to James McHenry, Aug. 10, 1798
The police are out to make DUI arrests in PA- the innocent beware!
Most of us are familiar with quality assurance and quality standards. Whether it is taking the steps to limit defective parts in a manufacturing plant or creating a better user experience for our customers and clients, there is a commitment to quality all around us. Quality is the hallmark of any successful organization. For example, at The McShane Firm, our Pennsylvania DUI Attorneys are committed to being the most prepared, the most knowledgeable, and the most professional defense lawyers in PA. We go that extra mile to ensure our clients are getting our best effort, every time.
Many people who go through regular performance reviews will tell you that quality plays a big part in how their job performance is evaluated. Take for example, a factory manager in ACME Widgets who will not only be evaluated on how many widgets his factory produced but also on the percentage of defective parts. A manager who is producing a large number of defective parts is considered wasteful and is promptly fired.
There is a commitment to quality everywhere…except for the police.
Police officers are evaluated on arrests numbers and receive rewards from MADD and other organizations based on arrest numbers- sheer, unadulterated volume. An officer who has made 1,000 DUI arrests is superior to one who has made 500, regardless of how many of those arrests actually end up being convicted. Whenever, the State toots its own horn in the media, it points to increasing arrest numbers without mentioning the percentage of these who were actually convicted. (See my post on how to lie with statistics.) Many of these “high volume” DUI officers are also producing a high number of false arrests and being wasteful, just like the now unemployed factory manager. The difference here is that those who are falsely arrested are real people, not widgets, who have to spend time and money to clear their name. Many of them end up getting falsely convicted of a DUI because of bad forensics, improper legal advice and sweet talking professional witnesses (aka police officers). They receive a lifetime sentence of humiliation and prejudice all for bumping in to an “officer on a mission”.
Despite the fact that these innocent people will have to face jail time, expensive fines and license suspension for a crime they did not commit, the arresting police officer is very rarely reprimanded. In fact, this type of behavior is encouraged as part of the “War on DUI”.
Get lots of arrests, regardless of quality and still be called a hero.
Is this what we want as a society?
It’s really sad to see our legal values deteriorate before our very eyes. One of the underlying themes in criminal justice is the presumption of innocence UNLESS proven guilty. However, this currently does not apply to DUI!
That is because DUI is the most politically charged crime in the United States today and through the media, powerful DUI lobbies like MADD have lead a calculated disinformation campaign. Their propaganda is aimed at brainwashing the public to the point that anyone accused of a DUI is assumed to be guilty. On top of that, the ways the laws are structured cops don’t need any solid evidence to arrest and charge you with a DUI. It’s a perfect example of “You’re Guilty Because I Said So”.
Take this recent example:
GROVE CITY, Pa. — A citizen in a western Pennsylvania school district is threatening to sue to prevent a man from taking the superintendent’s job because he’s awaiting trial on charges he drove drunk while his blood-alcohol content was nearly four times the state’s limit.
The point here is the man is awaiting trial on Pennsylvania DUI charges- nothing has been proven yet. This citizen who is suing is making a broad assumption based on the DUI accusation without giving the man accused a chance to defend himself in court. Unfortunately, this type of rationale is prevalent amongst folks and this mindset spills over to jury members who walk into the courtroom assuming guilt in DUI cases. Of course, the media plays a big role in cultivating this mindset through sensationalist articles which do not mention all of the facts. For example, here in Pennsylvania local newspapers print the names of all the people arrested for DUI, publicly humiliating them, but never print a retraction or even a mention of the many people who go on to be acquitted of these charges. Once again it’s the presumption of guilt in DUI cases.
This is one of my main motivations behind this blog, to educate all people on the dangers of assuming guilt.
DUI defense lawyers are encouraged to post any interesting stories about the dangers of assuming guilt in the comments below.
DUI is one of the most politically charged crimes in the United States. There are powerful lobbies that influence our lawmakers to enact laws they feel will work. This is often based on emotions and sentiment rather than science and facts. Sometimes it is based upon profit such as Ignition Interlock companies, house arrest/electronic monitoring companies, the SCRAM device and jail alternative folks. Recently, President Obama announced that December will be National Impaired Driving Prevention Month. I recently blogged about what that really means, which is more DUI checkpoints and roving patrols on the roadways of PA over the holidays. The most recent measure the government is pushing is No DUI Refusals:
Forcible Blood Draws for DUI Endanger All of Us
Gov’t urges ‘no refusal’ policy on drunken driving
About one in four drunken driving suspects refuse to take breath tests
WASHINGTON — When 18 people died in alcohol-related crashes in his Louisiana parish two years ago, Sheriff Craig Webre looked for new ways to combat drunken driving. Using laws already on the books, the sheriff found a simple answer.
Webre’s department west of New Orleans started using a “no refusal” policy for suspected drunken drivers who declined breath tests. When someone pulled over for drunken driving refused to take a Breathalyzer, Webre’s deputies sought prompt search warrants from judges to take blood samples and charge suspects if their blood-alcohol levels exceeded the legal limit of 0.08.
When I read this article I was once again disappointed at its one-sidedness. First of all the article does not mention how these blood sample are attained. In reality, police will literally pinned down the DUI suspect using all force they feel is necessary and stick a needle in them against their will. Secondly, it does not mention the issue of abuse of power that has plagued these “No DUI Refusal” measures. In one instance police stomped and beat a Texas man to the point where they broke his leg to draw his blood for a DUI test. And what about the issue of the integrity of our bodies? What about the original intent of the Framer’s of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights? I think that they would start a second Revolution if they were around now. They only revolted about taxation without representation. Imagine what they would have done about invading our bodies and poking them with needles against our will!
DUI enforcement is quickly spiraling out of control and endangers the lives and liberties of all of us. We in Pennsylvania can be thankful that forcible blood draws are not part of the DUI law in PA but be aware that politicians are being lobbied to enact this as we speak.
DUI and impaired driving is growing problem in this country. There are new challenges like synthetic marijuana and driving while texting that pose new risks and require a change in tactics. There are also older problems like fatigued driving which the government has failed to address. No matter what form this dangerous activity takes, whether you’re a PA DUI lawyer or the President of the United States, we all want our roadways to be safer.
The Government needs to take proactive measures to stop the DUI problem rather than using the same old methods
Recently, President Obama has declared December National Impaired Driving Prevention Month. All this means is that there will be more checkpoints and roving patrols. I find it disappointing how the President has decided to jump on the bandwagon rather than lead from the front on this issue. Leading from the front would means adopting new ideas and shifting the paradigm. As a PA DUI attorney who has litigated numerous cases, here some of my suggestions for making our roads safer:
- Overhauling the Nation’s crime labs to ensure accountability, oversight and transparency as per the recommendations in the National Academy of Sciences Study. This will help ensure that the tests are reliable and valid and that only the guilty are being convicted.
- Increasing education for state and local police so that they are aware of the signs and symptoms of DUI and can accurately follow the procedures in place. According to some experts, police incorrectly administer the filed sobriety tests 93% of the time. This error rate is totally unacceptable and is a sign of the sloppy police work going on out there.
- Better oversight for police to make sure they are not harassing disabled and severely ill patients and falsely charge them with DUI. It’s time for the bad apples and bullies to be held accountable for their actions.
- Discontinuing DUI checkpoints and using those funds to better educate the public and stop them from getting behind the wheel in the first place.
- Passing laws to punish driving while texting or using a cell phone.
- Adopting measures recommended by the NTSB to reduce fatigued driving.
The coming year will bring more new challenges and it is time for us to find better solutions rather than doing the same old things that haven’t worked, however popular they may be.
Get Ready to Have your Right Violated For Another Year in the Name of DUI Enforcement
Quantity vs Quality: The Pennsylvania DUI Checkpoint Fight
State Police Commissioner Frank E. Pawlowski announced recently that Pennsylvania DUI checkpoints will continue for at least another year, so get ready for another year of your rights being violated and being treated like a criminal just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Pennsylvania State Police argue the legitimacy of these DUI checkpoints by citing DUI arrest data. Pennsylvania DUI lawyers like myself argue that this data is inconclusive as it does not show how many people were actually guilty of the crime they were accused of–an arrest is not a conviction. I have written before about the Pennsylvania DUI arrest numbers and how the police are not telling the entire story. To put it briefly, in my extensive experience defending DUI checkpoint cases, I have found that many police officers are guilty of DUI Tunnel Vision, meaning they operate with the attitude that anything that looks like a DUI must be a DUI. In reality, many of these drivers were simply tired, ill or under the effects of medication and since they were confused and uncoordinated, they were arrested for DUI. Diabetics produced high amounts of acetone in their bodies and the breath machines the police use detect this and report this as alcohol. I have seen many diabetics wrongfully arrested for Pennsylvania DUI violations. Unfortunately, not enough time or money is spent on training police officers properly and monitoring them to ensure that they are, in fact, enforcing the law based on established principles.
The matter here is quality vs. quantity. The police and politicians in Pennsylvania want to increase arrest numbers to make themselves look more responsive. In some counties police officers are even issued awards based on the volume of arrests. Police should be motivated by their duty to uphold the law not by money and awards. Motivation based on money leads to corruption. Don’t believe me?:
City paying out $300G to Queens brothers falsely accused by cops of selling drugs
Two Queens men cleared by a security video of bogus drug charges are getting $300,000 settlement from the city – and the two cops accused of setting them up have resigned.
Jose Colon and his brother Maximo lost their grocery store and were plunged into debt as a result of the criminal case fabricated by the NYPD narcotics officers, authorities said Monday.
The circumstances of the case prompted a federal judge overseeing the victims’ suit to declare the NYPD is plagued by “widespread falsification” by arresting officers.
Queens District Attorney Richard Brown indicted Detective Stephen Anderson and Officer Henry Tavarez last year on a slew of corruption charges after prosecutors viewed the video taken inside the Delicias de Mi Tierra nightclub in Elmhurst the night of the arrests.
The cops claimed that on Jan. 5, 2008, the Colon brothers sold them two bags of cocaine.
The video confirmed that was false.
Later, Anderson told Tavarez to claim he had forgotten the details of the drug buy, according to prosecutors.
“The officers thought they could get away with it,” said lawyer Rochelle Berliner, who represented the Colons along with co-counsel Christina Hall.
“I believe they were motivated by overtime and arrest numbers,” she said Monday.
“The more bodies [arrests] they brought in, the more overtime money they would make. Otherwise, it’s just pure evil.”
The police want quantity but my fight and duty as a DUI lawyer in Pennsylvania is to ensure against false DUI accusations based upon inaccurate or not enough data. We would all be much safer if police officers were properly trained to detect DUI cases and arrested only those who are truly guilty. However, no one wants to fight that fight because arresting more people is easier and looks better on paper. I fight that fight everyday, in courtrooms all across Pennsylvania so that none of my clients fall victim to bad policing or corruption and end up being penalized for a crime they did not commit. Remember, as a society, we will never get better quality if we don’t fight for it.
The idea may seem foreign to us but there are places in the world where police can stop a driver who has done absolutely nothing wrong just to check and see if that driver is a criminal or not. “Where is this place?” you ask. Answer, right here in Pennsylvania.
How Pennsylvania is Becoming a Police State
Under the guise of DUI Checkpoints, Pennsylvania police are literally stopping cars to check if you’re a criminal or not. Not only is this an invasion of our privacy, but in my opinion, it is highly unconstitutional. As one of the leading DUI lawyers in Pennsylvania, I have defended a number of cases stemming from Pennsylvania DUI checkpoints. Here is a review of some of the laws related to DUI Checkpoints:
- Under the Fourth Amendment, it is unconstitutional to randomly stop and search someone. A police officer must have probable cause that a crime was committed in order to conduct a search.
- A DUI checkpoint is a violation of the Fourth Amendment because there is no probable cause to stop every motorist. However, The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that since the intrusion is minimal (I hold that this intrusion is not minimal), DUI checkpoints can be conducted for the overall objective of reducing DUI. (See Michigan Department of State Police v. Sitz)
The Supreme Court ruled that these stops can be conducted for DUI. The problem here is that police departments are setting up DUI checkpoint all over Pennsylvania and stopping people to check if they are criminals or not. They are arresting people for all types of violations that have nothing to do with DUI. In fact if you look at most of the headlines for DUI checkpoints they actually arrest less DUI offenders than they do other criminal offenders (e.g., people with outstanding warrants, drugs, and other traffic or equipment citations). Now,they no longer need probable cause to stop and search you and charge you with a crime or issue a citation that has nothing to do with DUI.
Recently, Pennsylvania police conducted “Operation Iron Shield”. The initiative involved setting up multiple DUI Checkpoints in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Here are the results:
The operative yielded 27 drug arrests, 31 fugitive arrests, 13 non-drug arrests, 40 DUI arrests, 22 underage citations, 342 traffic citations, one recovered stolen vehicle, eight liquor control violations and two arrests for parole violation.
THIS MEANS THAT 446 NON-DUI VIOLATIONS AND ONLY 40 DUI ARRESTS. This means that for every DUI accusation they had more than 11 non-DUI. Of the actual fruitful police work only about 8% were for what the checkpoint was alleged created for. The other 92% was for non-DUI. How can this be justified as a DUI Checkpoint???
Pennsylvania DUI Checkpoints: A Violation of Our Civil Liberties
The police departments involved will tout these number as a huge successes but those who know the constitution of our country will cry foul. A high number of arrests may seem like efficient law enforcement but those of us who deal with the police everyday know that many of these arrests are due to police officers overreaching and arresting people because of the goal they have in mind. Many times a police officer is awarded for a high number of arrests. This type of “added incentive” many times corrupts judgment and promotes biased results.
( Please see our post Pennsylvania DUI Lawyer examines DUI checkpoint statistics.)
The ends do not justify the means. If our only goal was to arrest criminals, then we should just let police randomly raid any house they wish. They would be able to arrest an enormous number of criminals that way. We can turn the whole country into a police state where there is no probable cause needed to make arrests. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is attacking our civil liberties all in the good name of DUI enforcement. One of the comments on the quoted article sums it up best: “Was it Operation Iron Shield or Operation Iron Curtain?”
As a Pennsylvania DUI Lawyer and resident of this great state, just like everyone else, I too wish there were no DUI drivers on Pennsylvania roadways. In my opinion, better education and training for Pennsylvania state and local police is the key to saving lives. As it stands, the training police officers receive on drunk driving is woefully inadequate and leads to a high number of false arrests. False arrests are a huge problem because a perfectly innocent citizens are arrested for a DUI they did not commit forcing them to go through often times lengthy legal proceedings to clear their name.
Pennsylvania State DUI Troops: Residents of Carbon, Columbia, Lower Luzerne, Monroe Counties Beware!
If we continue to ignore the training problem that is rampant in Pennsylvania’s police forces, we will end up with well-meaning but dangerously under-educated police officers jumping to conclusions that are not sound or bending the law and violating our rights:
Drunk drivers: Police are looking for you
There was a time when troopers stationed at the state police barracks in Swiftwater would track crimes and car crashes in their coverage area using a large map of Monroe County posted on the wall in the station. Color-coded pins were pushed into the map after a crash, arrest or crime.
The map and a few of its now-unused pins still stare down from the wall, but troopers have a much more sophisticated system now to piece together where and when crimes are taking place.
Since 2003, the troopers stationed at Swiftwater have used mapping technology to target patrols at roads with a high volume of drunken driving crashes and arrests.
Last year, police at the Swiftwater barracks made almost 200 more DUI arrests than the previous year — a 75 percent increase from 2008 and the largest jump at any of the 88 state police barracks in Pennsylvania last year.
(We have discussed Pennsylvania DUI statistics before so please take these numbers with a proverbial grain of salt.)
The Pennsylvania State Trooper in this article really makes some amazing admissions:
Far more useful in catching drunk drivers is the “roving DUI patrol,” Reznick said. During a DUI patrol, troopers are assigned to target areas that the PROphesy program has highlighted as heavily traveled by drunken drivers during the likeliest hours.
In a traffic stop, troopers look for more than just the obvious signs of impairment, Reznick said.
“It doesn’t have to be the traditional guy weaving all over the road,” he said.
Police might stop someone for an equipment violation. “It’s very difficult not to be able to find some type of equipment violation even on a new car,” Reznick said.
“There’s a multitude of things. There are little things built into the vehicle code, like something hanging from your rearview mirror is against the law. [Blogger's note: that is not true, by the way unless it materially obstructs the safe operation of the vehicle, which most hanging objects do not]
“Do we stop people and give them $100 citations for that? Mostly not. But it’s probable cause to pull over a car and see if there’s anything else going on.
“If we pull you over for one of these little equipment violations and you’re otherwise driving safely and not driving under the influence, then ‘Here’s your warning, sir,’ and you’re on your way,” Reznick said. “But that’s how you capture the DUI drivers also.”
Amazing! In this country we have rights and one of those is protection from unlawful search and seizure as preserved in the Fourth Amendment. Here we have admission of pre-textual stops which are not proper. Here the roving patrol officer or Trooper following this method is not only guilty of DUI tunnel vision but they are overtly treading on our rights by not demonstrating probable cause for a DUI stop. Any drivers in Carbon, Columbia, Lower Luzerne, Monroe Counties who find themselves arrested for DUI under these circumstances should call The McShane Firm immediately so a qualified Pennsylvania DUI lawyer can assess your case.
Connect with us:
Connect with Attorney McShane
Attorney Profile on TheMcShaneFirm.com
Justin McShane on Avvo
Justin McShane on FaceBook
Justin McShane on Google+
Justin McShane on JustiaJustin McShane on LinkedIn
Justin McShane on Super Lawyers
Justin McShane on Twitter
National College for DUI Defense- The Truth About Forensic Science
Videos by Justin McShane
