Case Study

A DUI case study posted by Florida DUI Lawyer:

A Case Study on DUI Policy: Palm Beach County Florida
Michael Braxton, your resource for a Florida DUI Lawyer has reprinted this case study on DUI policy in Palm Beach County Florida.

System Description

Law Generation. The illegal BAC level in Florida is 0.08; a new 0.02 law for persons under the age of 21 went into effect January 1, 1997. If someone less than 21 is stopped for any reason, and the officer smells alcohol on the person's breath, the officer does not need probable cause for DUI at that point to request a breath test. If a person less than 21 does not give a breath test, he or she will be given a citation and will lose his/her license for one year (upon a second refusal, the license is suspended for 18 months). If the under-21 person takes the test and registers a BAC of 0.02-0.08, the result is the loss of the driver license for six months.

Enforcement. DWI laws are enforced by the Florida State Patrol, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Department, and the various local enforcement agencies in the county. Reportedly, cities in Florida are more active in anti-DUI enforcement than they were in the past. Sometimes checkpoints are conducted in cooperation with other agencies. The Florida State Patrol has a three-person DUI task force in Palm Beach County working 10-hour days from Thursday through Sunday. One trooper believes DUI offenders are not as "prevalent" as they used to be on the roadways. Traffic is lighter during the week. One trooper says 2.5 - 3.0 hours are "lost" in processing a DUI arrestee; more troopers are needed. This number is down from an estimated 4.0, mainly due to recent reductions in paperwork requirements.

The Sheriff's Department formerly had a DWI Task Force, but that has been discontinued. Now, most of DWI enforcement is done by regular patrol units and by the traffic homicide unit. Sources indicate a de-emphasizing of DWI enforcement in recent years.

Overall, the DWI arrest rate in the county is low compared to the national average. Available data indicate some to 2,000 to 3,000 DWI arrests per year, which amounts to roughly 0.3 % of licensed drivers.

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