Post A Reply
my profile
|
directory
login
|
search
|
faq
|
forum home
»
Flare Sci-Fi Forums
»
Community
»
The Flameboard
»
DUI Accountability
» Post A Reply
Post A Reply
Login Name:
Password:
Message:
HTML is enabled.
UBB Code™ is enabled.
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Snay: [QB] [QUOTE]A breathalyzer registered the guy at 0.21??? Good grief, I thought that police generally held people in that stage of inebriation overnight to let them "sleep it off" first. Wouldn't that guy have been liable to be charged with public drunkenness if he'd been picked up again, even if he was just walking home?[/QUOTE]Although the police certainly do *appear* to be in error, keep in mind that they are governed by a wide selection of laws -- Federal, state, and local. No two departments do things the same way, even in the same state. Baltimore City, for example, tows DWI offenders’ vehicles to a city-run lot, where it won’t be released for at least 12 hours, regardless of why it was towed. Baltimore County, OTOH, tows vehicles to private lots, and nothing forbids the private lot from releasing the vehicle at any specific time period (outside their own operating hours). Some jurisdictions don’t tow vehicles at all, and many rural areas have five or six agencies operating the same juridiction which can make things all messed up -- even urban areas have lots of agencies -- Baltimore City alone has six agencies running around: Maryland Transit Police, Maryland State Police, Baltimore City Police, Department of Corrections, Baltimore Sheriff’s Office, Housing Police. The Transit Police, of course, have jurisdiction on all MTA property, plus any traffic violations. State Police have state-wide jurisdiction, but mainly stick to the highways in the urban and suburban areas of Maryland. The Sheriff’s Office in Baltimore is mostly responsible for security at the court, and transfer of prisoners. The Corrections Dept runs the jails. The Housing Police used to only have jurisdiction in the projects, but they were recently given city-wide jurisdiction. Anyway, the whole point of this little “lesson” was to show how confusing it can be to determine what happens to a vehicle, depending either on the agency doing the arrest or the jurisdiction it occurs in. A friend of mine is a Transit Officer, and hates DWI arrests -- why? Because depending on whether he’s in Baltimore County, Baltimore City, or Ann Arundel County, he’s got to do the arrest three different ways! Okay, back to the topic. This is what ArizonaDO, an officer from AZ had to say on the matter on an LEO board I post on: [QUOTE]If a bond amount is set and the inmate has the ability to post it, you have to let him/her go. That is like refusing a judges court order to relase someone from custody. We release dangerous persons from jail everyday on bond, we can't say to them "hey, didn't you murder that little old lady with a claw hammer the other day? oh, screw that, I am not letting you out." It just does not work that way. Remember the eighth amendment?, No cruel and unusual punshment...no bond set to high etc. etc.. If the people or law makers feel that it is a truly dangerous issue, they need to set a no bond on DUI's. Kind of the same deal as domestic violence charges, no release until you talk to a judge. You can't expect police departments or jails to make up the rules as they go along. The rules and policies are set forth by elected persons, the police are there to enforce the rules and policies placed upon them. [/QUOTE]H8Criminals, a Park Police officer, said: [QUOTE]Hmmm ... as an officer, my view on this ... I'm not sure if I agree with Manslaughter, however, I do think there should be SOME kind of penalty. Even "failure to obey a lawful order of a police officer" may do, if NJ has that charge. I've heard of bartenders getting charged with things for continuing to serve drunk persons at the bars if that person got in to an accident. I've heard of party hosts getting in trouble for the same thing. Had the friend followed the request of the officers to "take care of the subject" or to "take him home," and THEN the guy left and got back to his car his own way, then it's different. If the friend brought him immediately back to his vehicle, it wouldn't take a rocket scientist to smell him and realize there's probably a reason he was supposed to bring him home. [/QUOTE]This about makes the point. It wasn’t the PD’s fault. It was the idiot friend who decided his drunk friend could drive even though he knew he was drunk. [/QB][/QUOTE]
Instant Graemlins
Instant UBB Code™
What is UBB Code™?
Options
Disable Graemlins in this post.
*** Click here to review this topic. ***
© 1999-2024 Charles Capps
Powered by UBB.classic™ 6.7.3