Submitted by Former NYPD, Jul 8, 2007 13:13

Police officers assigned to command level patrol functions do not make DWI arrests, as they are frowned upon by most police officer as not being a "real collar". I was on patrol for about 10 and I only made two arrests for DWI and that was only they crashed into someone and I had to make the arrest. If not for the fact they crashed, they never would have been arrested.

When I was in the NYPD, the only unit that actively looked for DWIs were members of the Highway Patrol. They were the only unit that actually received training in the detection and arrest of drunk drivers. Police officer assigned to command level patrol where never trained in SFST (standardized fiels sobriety testing). The lack of this training made prosecuting DWIs in NYC very difficuly becuase the police officers who made the arrest were typically not able to testify properly on why the stop was made and how they knew the person was DWI. Simply stating they looked drunk was a common phrase used by these untrained officers.

After leaving the NYPD for another Department, I received specialized training in SFST and proceeded to make about 30 DWI arrests a year until I was transferred to a non patrol unit. Now that I had the proper training, it was much easier to spot a drunk driver, make the arrest on supportable facts, and to have a successful prosecution of the arrestee.

If the NYPD really want to do something about their DWI problem, train all command level patrol officers in SFST and let them loose. Once they see how easy it is and how much overtime they can make, you will see a dramatic increase in the number of DWI arrests within NYC.

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