toddmyers

Just another example of the increased Police State in this country. "VE VILL SEE YOUR PAPERS!" Where does it stop? It's bad enough that if you refuse the the breathalyser or any other sobriety test you'll end up in jail and at the very least you will be out a couple of grand in legal fees to go to trial, win or lose but this is outrageous. (Not to mention that any employer can demand to know your personal habits OFF THE JOB by making you pee in a cup just so you can make a living! But, I digress...) I guess since the Irving police department had such a hard time after arresting a guy for walking across his hotel lobby, Denton thought they'd go for something easier. "Oh we'll just get these drunk drivers and boaters... and it doesn't matter whether or not they are really drunk, we'll just use our superior knowledge and training to decide who we arrest." What BS! This is no deterrent, nobody thinks that they will get caught, people are going to drink and drive/boat anyway. This is just another way for the neo-prohibitionist to stick their noses into everybody elses business and another way for another county in Texas to make lots of money. If this were truly all about safety, as they say, then if a person is arrested and they are not above the legal limit, then there should be some form compensation like, you get whatever the maximum fee would be if you were drunk. What is it? $2,000.00 or something like that? I'd like to see how many "dragnets" they put out if they actually had to pay people they arrest wrongly. Don't get me wrong, if you commit a crime, you should be punished but, (and this is a big BUT) in this country one is innocent until PROVEN guilty and one does NOT have to incriminate oneself! This is a big 4th and 5th amendment issue. The police do not have the right to search me unless they have proper justification and the state does not have the right to compel me to incriminate myself which is what compelling a blood or breathalyser test would do. Remember, more people are killed by people who are driving while tired from being over worked and getting too little sleep than are killed by drunk drivers! And finally let me say that if you do kill or injure someone while driving under the influence, you should be locked up for life. No exceptions. You know you're drunk, you know your vehicle is potentially a lethal weapon, you wreck, you pay the price. We cannot however start convicting people without due process. Oh, that's right, we already are... Can I have my constitutional protections back, please!?!