Daily Egyptian
Fall '03 Edition
Police effectively enforce DUI prevention methods
Burke Wasson
Daily Egyptian
Police officers in Jackson County know that detecting any possible DUI cases is an important task that could mean the difference between life and death, so they follow a strict set of guidelines to make sure they do the job right.
Law enforcement agencies in the county follow statewide systems of field sobriety testing to determine whether an arrest is needed. According to the field sobriety standards, officers look for three factors to determine how sober a potential DUI arrestee may be: the nature of the person's eyes, the person's ability to follow instructions and the person's balance.
Carbondale Police Officer Doug Wilson, who has a department-high 15 DUI arrests this semester as of Wednesday, said he always uses the statewide field sobriety standards in possible DUI cases.
"Standardized field sobriety tests are all about the same, so I tend to stick to it," Wilson said. "The first one is you check their eyes to see if they have any signs of drunkenness. Then, you check their walk-and-turn test to see if they can follow the instructions you gave them as well as they should. Then, check their one-leg stand test to check their balance."
Besides the state's field sobriety standards, officers also have their own intuitive methods to see how intoxicated a person is.
SIUC Police Capt. Todd Sigler, whose department has made 29 DUI arrests this semester as of Wednesday, said one of the things he has used to see a person's level of drunkenness is performing exercises with the alphabet.
"I've utilized the alphabet by asking them to say it, not sing it," Sigler said. "A lot of them can't get past the first 25 percent. That obviously doesn't demonstrate that the individual is sober. In addition, that's pretty persuasive in court."
Wilson said simple things like noticing the smell of alcohol on a driver's breath or seeing how hard it is for the person to concentrate on more than one thing are also very revealing.
"I see people fumbling through their ID card three or four times before they find it," Wilson said. "They can't do things a sober person would find easy to do."
The next step after an officer completes field sobriety testing is often asking the potentially intoxicated person whether he or she would like to breathe into a breathalyzer. Local officers usually perform the breath test to determine a person's blood alcohol level through the use of portable breathalyzer testing. If a portable breath test is not available, officers can take the driver to the police station to operate the department's stationary breathalyzer.
Murphysboro Police Officer Gib Bastien, who has a county-high 26 DUI arrests this semester through Wednesday, said many people do not realize the breath test is not required. It is only an option.
Bastien said although the results of the breath test cannot be used in court, it is still a very effective tool to determine a person's level of intoxication.
In addition to providing a valuable gauge for officers to determine a person's sobriety, the breathalyzer can also work in the potential arrestee's favor. If a person does not believe they are above the Illinois legal blood alcohol of .08, Murphysboro Police Chief Jeff Bock said the breath test can save that person time and headaches.
Bock said the breathalyzer gives people the benefit of the doubt because it is a less accurate reflection of a person's blood alcohol content than a reading from a blood sample or urine sample, which are also options for a person pulled over for possible drunken driving.
"If at the same point I would take a blood sample from you I also took a blood sample, the true blood alcohol level will actually be higher than what the breath will show," Bock said. "So if you blow into a breathalyzer and it reads .08, your true blood alcohol may be .093 or something like that. So it's actually giving you the benefit of the doubt."
In addition to the common misconceptions about breathalyzers, local officers say people should also know the truth about methods often used by drinkers to hide their true level of intoxication. Whether people are sticking items such as cough drops or pennies in their mouths, police officers have seen it all.
Wilson said before Carbondale Police test anyone with a breathalyzer, officers make sure there is nothing in the person's mouth.
In addition to putting items in their mouths to mask the smell of alcohol, Bastien said he has not noticed people acting out of character while they are too drunk to drive.
"A lot of times if you have a person impaired, they'll do one of two things to you," Bastien said. "They'll stare straight ahead with a glassy look and hold onto the steering wheel like they're holding on to their life. Or, they'll try to wave you to death to make sure you see them and that they're happy and everything's good with them. Sometimes people give themselves away."
Any of the tricks people use to prevent themselves from a DUI arrest are not as effective as one simple tool: do not drink and drive.
"My best advice is don't drink and drive." Bastien said. "If you drink and drive, don't come to Murphysboro. I'll catch you and I'm going to put you in jail."
Burke Wasson can be reached at: bwasson@dailyegyptian.com
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