Did you know that the Florida Highway Patrol gives at annual awards to the trooper who makes the most DUI arrests? The award is given for the number of arrests, but apparently not for the number of convictions. Many people have surmised that the number of DUI stops or arrests may be related to an officer hoping to receive favorable ratings from his supervisors or other similar motives. While we hope this is never the case, DUI arrests are often referred to as crimes of opinion. An officer must have a legal reason to stop a vehicle and then must have grounds to investigate the driver for driving under the influence.

An odor of alcohol, according to case law, is insufficient to establish DUI. However, a driving pattern, slurred speech, physical impairment, and other observations can be considered. Quite often, these observations are on video. A problem arises from a defense standpoint of a person who has been arrested when there is no video and there is a dispute between the arrested person and the officer as to what happened or how the person appeared.

A video could certainly help eliminate the argument that someone is making an arrest on less than a standard of probable cause, or for other reasons. Until there is a video on every DUI case which includes driving and observations, there will always be issues and questions that arise as to whether someone was under the influence of alcohol and if so, was it to the extent that their normal faculties were impaired.

If you or a loved one have been accused of DUI, read the material at www.SandeferLaw.com and contact a board certified criminal defense lawyer who again answer your questions and assist you in fighting the DUI or assisting you through the process and minimizing long-lasting effects.