Problems and Solutions in DWI Enforcement Systems

Transcription

1 * * 'fi ^ rw,+r^^. 0 U.S. Departmet of Trasportatio Natioal Highway RS Admiistratio 3 DOT HS Jauary 1998 Techical Report Problems ad Solutios i DWI Eforcemet Systems I This documet is available to the public from the Natioal Techical Iformatio Service, Sprigfield, Virgiia

2 This publicatio is distributed by the U.S. Departmet of Trasportatio, Natioal Highway Traffic Safety Admiistratio, i the iterest of iformatio exchage. The opiios, fidigs ad coclusios expressed i this publicatio are those of the author(s) ad ot ecessarily those of the Departmet of Trasportatio or the Natioal Highway Traffic Safety Admiistratio. The Uited States Govermet assumes o liability for its cotets or use thereof. If trade or maufacturer's ame or products are metioed, it is because they are cosidered essetial to the object of the publicatio ad should ot be costrued as a edorsemet. The Uited States Govermet does ot edorse products or maufacturers.

3 1. Report No. 2. Govermet Accessio No. 3. Recipiet's Catalog No. DOT HS Title ad Subtitle 5. Report Date Problems ad Solutios i DWI Eforcemet Systems Jauary 1998 Techical Report Documetatio Page 6. Performig Orgaizatio Code 7. Author(s) 8. Performig Orgaizatio Report No. Joes, RK.; Lacey, J.H.; ad Wiliszowski, C.H. 9. Performig Orgaizatio Name ad Adddress 10. Work Uit No. (TRAtS) Mid-America Research Istitute 611 Mai Street 11. Cotract or Grat No. Wichester, MA DTNH22-95-C Sposorig Agecy Name ad Address 13. Type of Report ad Period Covered Natioal Highway Traffic Safety Admiistratio Fial Report Office of Research ad Traffic Records September 1995-March th Street, S.W., Washigto, DC it. Sposorig Agecy Code 15. Supplemetary Notes Amy Berig was the Cotractig Officer's Techical Represetative (COTR) for this project 16. Abstract This report documets the results of a study aimed at idetifyig where ad how alcohol-impaired drivers slip through the cracks i the crimial justice system. It also suggests potetial fixes to close those loopholes. The report is based o iformatio obtaied through telephoe discussios with law eforcemet officials i 11 jurisdictios; detailed case studies of BAC-law eforcemet methods ad problems i three jurisdictios; ad iput from a pael of experts experieced i BAC-law eforcemet procedures ad methods. The study idetified 28 sigificat problems i eforcig BAC-limit laws ad traced them to their most commo causes. These problems degrade the ability of the police to fid DWI suspects, cofirm suspects as DWI, ad process suspects more quickly. The problems also degrade the ability of prosecutors to charge ad obtai covictios of DWI defedats ad the ability of judges to impose appropriate sactios o persos covicted of DWI. Types of recommeded fixes for these problems icluded expaded traiig programs for police officers, prosecutors, judges, ad admiistrative hearig officers; ew or modified procedures for catchig ad processig suspected DWIs, adjudicatig DWI cases, ad sactioig DWI offeders; additioal equipmet, facilities, ad persoel for agecies ivolved i eforcig BAC laws; additioal fudig to support the operatio of these agecies; ew or modified laws o the coduct of crimial ad admiistrative adjudicative proceedigs; ad focused public iformatio programs to gai public support for the operatio of BAC law eforcemet agecies. 17. Key Words 18. Distributio Statemet DWI, DU1, drikig drivig, BAC limits, law eforcemet, adjudicatio, sactioig, system aalysis, loopholes, failure aalysis, case studies. 19. Security Classif. (of this report) 2D. Security Classif. (of 'Ns page) 21. No. of Pages 22. Price. Form DOT F (8-72) Reproductio of completed page authorized

4 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS A system study such as this requires the cooperatio ad assistace of may persos performig the fuctios uder scrutiy. I this study we were assisted by persos who geerously gave their time to help. Some participated i exteded telephoe coversatios about how the DWI cotrol system operated i their jurisdictio. Others helped us durig visits to their jurisdictios, describig their operatios, ad the allowig us to look over their shoulders. A expert pael provided valuable advice ad worked hard before, durig ad after pael meetigs to make this product as meaigful as possible.. Three jurisdictios permitted us to coduct o-site case studies. These were Scottsdale, Arizoa; Rockdale Couty, Georgia; ad Palm Beach Couty, Florida. Amog those who assisted us i Scottsdale were Assistat City Prosecutor Susae Bartlett, Police Officer Jeffrey Belford, Hearig Officer Sheila Goode, ad Police Lieuteat Michael Keeley. Sergeat Dave Larso of the Traffic Eforcemet Uit coordiated our visit.. I Rockdale Couty, Sergeat Cliff Miller of the Georgia State Patrol was our guide. District Attorey Cheryl Custer Fisher, Georgia State Patrol Trooper Moses Little, Probatio Officer Joh Maget, Judge William Todd, ad Coyers Police Sergeat Mike Waters, amog others, geerously gave of their time durig our visit to Rockdale Couty. Our trip to Palm Beach Couty was arraged by Assistat State Attorey Richard Pealta. Helpig us there were Ted Booras, Chief of Couty Court, State Attorey's Office; Sergeat Patricia Kutlik of the Palm Beach Couty Sheriff's Office; Couty Court Judge Susa Lubitz; Circuit Court Judge Mary E. Lupo; Adrea Sheldo of Pride Ic. Probatio; ad A Vicet of the State Attorey's Office, amog may others. I each istace, the local coordiators did a outstadig job schedulig our visit ad arragig productive meetigs. To them we exted a special thaks. As idicated earlier, the Expert Pael labored tirelessly to provide the best possible iput to the project. Pael members were: Rebecca Mead, Ivestigator, Los Ageles Couty Probatio Departmet; Sergeat CliffMiller, Georgia State Patrol; C. Richard Pealta, Assistat State Attorey, Fifteeth Judicial Circuit, Florida; Sergeat Roie Roberts, Charlottesville Virgiia Police Departmet; Captai Thomas Walsh, Bureau Chief, New Hampshire Police Stadards ad Traiig Coucil; ad William W. Watt, Attorey at Law ad formertraffic court judge, Little Rock, Arkasas. To each of these dedicated professioals ad the may others who helped with this project we exted our sicere thaks. i

5 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS... i TABLE OF CONTENTS... iii FIGURES... vii TABLES... ix EXECUTIVE SUMMARY... xi 1- INTRODUCTION BACKGROUND... 1 SCOPE AND APPROACH... 3 ORGANIZATION OF THE REPORT THE BASELINE SYSTEM... 5 INTRODUCTION INFORMATION SOURCES... 6 Telephoe Cotacts with System Staff... 7 Expert Pael Discussios... 8 Staff E.xpertise... 8 RESULTS... 8 Top Level... 8 Law Eforcemet First Level Secod Level Adjudicatio First Level Secod Level - Admiistrative Secod Level - Judicial Sactioig First Level Secod Level - Admiistrative Secod Level -Judicial MEASURES OF REQUIREMENTS AND PERFORMANCE CASE STUDIES OF OPERATING SYSTEMS SELECTION OF CASE STUDY SITES CASE STUDY PROCEDURES... 38

6 CASE STUDY RESULTS - SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA Site Descriptio System Descriptio Law Geeratio Eforcemet Adjudicatio Sactioig Problem Areas ad Possible Fixes CASE STUDY RESULTS - ROCKDALE COUNTY, GEORGIA Site Descriptio System Descriptio Law Geeratio Eforcemet Adjudicatio Sactioig Problem Areas ad Possible Fixes CASE STUDY RESULTS - PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA Site Descriptio System Descriptio Law Geeratio Eforcemet Adjudicatio Sactioig Problem Areas ad Possible Fixes SYSTEM FAILURES AND SUGGESTED FIXES INTRODUCTION SYSTEM FAILURES Eforcemet Failure to Fid DWI Suspects Failure to Cofirm Suspects as DWIs Failure to Process DWIs i a Timely Maer Adjudicatio Failure to Charge DWIs Failure to Obtai a Guilty Plea from DWIs Failure to Covict DWIs Sactioig Failure to Impose Appropriate Sactios Failure to Execute Imposed Sactios Failure to Uphold Admiistrative Sactios SUGGESTED FIXES Eforcemet Failure to Fid DWI Suspects iv

7 Failure to Cofirm Suspects as DWI Failure to Process DWls i a Dmely Maer Adjudicatio Failure to Charge DWIs Failure to Obtai Guilty Pleas from DWIs Failure to Covict DWIs Sactioig Failure to Impose Appropriate Sactios Failure to Execute Imposed Sactios Failure to Uphold Aamiisirative Sactios IMPLEMENTATION OF SYSTEM FIXES SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS REFERENCES APPENDIX - SUMMARY OF TELEPHONE DISCUSSIONS v

8 FIGURES Figure 2-1: Top-Level Flowchart of the Baselie DWI Eforcemet System Figure 2-2: Flowchart for Fuctio 2.0, Law Eforcemet Figure 2-3: Flowchart for Fuctio 2.1, Perform Surveillace Figure 2-4: Flowchart for Fuctio 2.2, Detect Suspect Figure 2-5: Flowchart for Fuctio 2.3, Stop Vehicle Figure 2-6: Flowchart for Fuctio 2.4, Coduct Pre-Arrest Ivestigatio Figure 2-7: Flowchart for Fuctio 2.6, Coduct Post Arrest Ivestigatio ad Processig Figure 2-8: Flowchart for Fuctio 3.0, Adjudicatio Figure 2-9: Flowchart for Fuctio 3.1, Determie Guilt - Admiistrative Figure 2-10: Flowchart for Fuctio 3.2, Process Appeal of Admiistrative Decisio Figure 2-11: Flowchart for Fuctio 3.4, Hear Motios - Judicial Figure 2-12: Flowchart for Fuctio 3.4, Coduct Trial - Judicial Figure 2-13: Flowchart for Fuctio 4.0, Sactioig Figure 2-14: Flowchart for Fuctio 4.2, Diagose ad Refer Figure 2-15: Flowchart for Fuctio 4.3, Impose Probatio Figure2-16: Flowchart for Fuctio 4.4, Determie Actio for No-Compliace 27 Figure 4-1: Factors Cotributig to "Failure to Fid DWI Suspects" Figure 4-2: Factors Cotributig to "Failure to Cofirm Suspects as DWIs" Figure 4-3: Factors Cotributig to "Failure to Arrest ad Process DWIs I a Timely Maer" Figure 4-4: Factors Cotributig to "Failure to Charge DWIs" Figure 4-5: Factors Cotributig to "Failure to Obtai Guilty Plea From DWIs" Figure 4-6: Factors Cotributig to "Failure to Covict DWIs" Figure 4-7: Factors Cotributig to "Failure to Impose Appropriate Sac- tios" Figure 4-8: Factors Cotributig to "Failure to Execute Imposed Judicial Sactios" Figure 4-9: Factors Cotributig to "Failure to Uphold Admiistrative Sactios" Figure 4-10: Causes ad Fixes of "Too Few Uits Observig for DWI".. 66

9 Figure 4-11: Cause ad Fix of "Iability to Recogize DWI Drivig Behavior" Figure 4-12: Causes ad Fixes of "Ieffective or Iefficiet Use of Resources" Figure 4-13: Causes ad Fixes of "Ieffective Use of Citize Reportig". 69 Figure 4-14: Cause ad Fixes of "Too Much Time Spet Collectig Data" Figure 4-15: Causes ad Fix of "Failure to Observe for Sigs of Alcohol Impairmet" Figure 4-16: Causes ad Fix of "Failure to Properly Give or Iterpret a Sobriety Test" Figure 4-17: Causes ad Fixes of "Log Waits for Support Uits at Arrest Scee" Figure 4-18: Causes ad Fixes of "Log Time to Reach Processig Facility" Figure 4-19: Causes ad Fixes of "Use of Patrol Officers for No-Patrol Duties" Figure 4-20: Causes ad Fixes of "Too Few Prosecutors to Process DWI Caseload" Figure 4-21: Causes ad Fixes of "Uecessary or Iefficiet Chargig Procedures" Figure 4-22: Causes ad Fixes of "Isufficiet or Iadmissable Evidece" Figure 4-23: Causes ad Fixes of "Defedats Fail to Appear" Figure 4-24: Causes ad Fixes of "Too Few Guilty Pleas at Arraigmet" Figure 4-25: Causes ad Fixes of "Failure to Negotiate a Plea" Figure 4-26: Causes ad Fixes of "Too May Motios ad Cotiuaces" Figure 4-27: Causes ad Fixes of "Critical Evidece Not Admitted" Figure 4-28: Causes ad Fixes of "No Testimoy or Poor Testimoy From a Key Witess'." Figure 4-29: Cause ad Fix of "Iappropriate Not Guilty Verdict Redered" Figure 4-30: Cause ad Fix of "Lack of Iformatio" Figure 4-31: Cause ad Fix of "Lack of Sactioig Resources" Figure 4-32: Cause ad Fix of "Lack of Uiformity i Setecig" Figure 4-33: Cause ad Fix of "Isufficiet Attetio to Setecig" Figure 4-34: Causes ad Fix of "Failure to Complete Term or Fulfill Coditios of Setece" Figure 4-35: Causes ad Fix of "Police Officer" Fails to Appear or Testify Effectively

10 Figure 4-36: Causes ad Fixes of "No-Pertiet Issues Addressed at Hearigs" Figure 4-37: Cause ad Fix of "Hearig Officer Arrives at a Erroeous Judgemet" TABLES Table 2-1: Restrictiveess of BAC Limits i Selected States at Start of Study Table 2-2: Sactios for DWI - Baselie System... 9 Table 2-3: Performace ad Requiremets Measures for Perform Surveillace, Detect Suspect, ad Apprehed Suspect Table 2-4: Performace ad Requiremets Measures for Coduct Pre-Arrest Ivestigatio, ad Arrest ad Trasport Suspect Table 2-5: Performace ad Requiremets Measures for Coduct Post Arrest Ivestigatio ad Processig Table 2-6: Performace ad Requiremets Measures for Determie Guilt (Admiistrative), Process Appeal of Admiistrative Decisio, ad Arraig Table 2-7: Performace ad Requiremets Measures for Arraig, Hear Motios, Coduct Trial, ad File ad Coduct Appeal Table 2-8: Performace ad Requiremets Measures for Setece, Diagose ad Refer, Impose Probatio, Determie Actio for No-Compliace, ad Impose Puitive Sactios ix

11 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY STUDY OBJECTIVES AND APPROACH May alcohol-impaired drivers go either udetected or upuished. This report attempts to idetify where ad how these idividuals slip through the cracks i the crimial justice system. It also suggests potetial fixes to close those loopholes. Specific objectives of the project were: to describe various ways beig used i the Uited States to eforce laws limitig a driver's blood alcohol cocetratio (BAC); to idetify sigificat problems that occur i DWI (drivig while itoxicated) eforcemet ad the impact of these problems o catchig law violators ad subjectig them to appropriate sactios; ad to suggest chages i DWI eforcemet that would prevet or ameliorate these problems. To do this, we: coducted telephoe discussios with law eforcemet officials i te jurisdictios to obtai a overview of curret DWI eforcemet methods ad problems; visited three jurisdictios ad prepared detailed case studies of their DWI eforcemet methods ad problems; ad coveed a expert pael of idividuals with extesive experiece i DWI eforcemet. The pael provided additioal iformatio ad helped i aalyzig the iformatio. RESULTS A total of 28 sigificat problems i eforcig BAC-limit laws was idetified ad traced to their most commo causes. These problems degrade the ability of the police to fid DWI suspects, cofirm suspects as DWI, ad process suspects more quickly. The problems also degrade the ability of prosecutors to charge ad obtai covictios of DWI defedats ad the ability of judges to impose appropriate sactios o persos covicted of DWL Some 50 fixes were recommeded for cosideratio by jurisdictios experiecig these problems. Types of fixes recommeded were: xi

12 PROBLFMSAND SOL U770NSINDWI ENFORCEMENT SYSTFII?S expaded traiig programs for police officers, prosecutors, judges, ad admiistrative hearig officers; ew or modified procedures for catchig ad processig suspected DWIs, adjudicatig DWI cases, ad sactioig DWI offeders; additioal equipmet, facilities, ad persoel for agecies ivolved i eforcig BAC laws; additioal fimdig to support the operatio of these agecies; ew or modified laws o the coduct of crimial ad admiistrative adjudicative proceedigs; ad focused public iformatio programs to gai public support for the operatio of DWI eforcemet agecies. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS We coclude that DWI eforcemet i most jurisdictios is fuctioig at a acceptable, if ot optimal, level, ad is fuctioig extremely well i some jurisdictios. Specific coclusios ad recommedatios flowig from this project are: Coclusio: The greatestimprovemetidwieforcemetimostjurisdictios will be realized by icreasig the percetage of patrol officers' time available for lookig for ad iterdictig DWI suspects. However, all ivolved agecies must be prepared to adapt to the greater demads o their resources (for example, larger case loads) resultig from such icreases. Recommedatio: Police commad staff should recosider their policies for allocatig persoel ad other resources to esure that sufficiet emphasis is beig give to DWI eforcemet. Police maagers should examie each support fuctio performed by patrol officers to see how arrest ad processig time ca be reduced. The possibility of reducig the time spet fulfillig reportig requiremets should also be cosidered. The use of shorteed forms ad computer techology is oe of the most productive ways of icreasig officer availability for patrol tasks. Aother way of icreasig patrol time is to assig support duties durig suspect processig to clerical staff or other o-swor persoel..xii Coclusio: The time required to adjudicate drivig while itoxicated (DWI) cases is excessive i may jurisdictios, ofte stretchig out for moths ad, sometimes, for years. This violates a basic teet of deterrece theory that calls for the timely impositio of puishmet for proscribed behavior.

13 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Recommedatio: Judicial agecies should examie their procedures to lear where iordiate amouts of time are beig spet Particular attetio should be give to the parts of the process that ivolve pre-trial hearigs ad cotiuaces. There should be a eye toward restrictig the coditios uder which the process ca be exteded i time. Coclusio: The failure to appear (FTA) by defedats at adjudicative hearigs ca have a large egative impact o system performace by reducig their availability for determiatio of guilt ad sactioig if foud guilty. The extet of this problem atiowide is ot kow, but our research suggests that it could be widespread. Recommedatio: Jurisdictios should udertake research to lear the ature ad extet of their FTA problem. If the problem is serious, the ways of dealig with it should be devised, icludig the revocatio of the driver licese for FTA. Coclusio: A series of uexpected problems is occurrig i the operatio ofthe admiistrative adjudicatio compoets of DWI eforcemet These problems iclude excessive demads o police officers' time to appear at admiistrative hearigs; procedures that require police officers to file a writte request for cotiuace if uable to appear at a hearig; laws that prohibit a prosecutor from appearig at a hearig, placig the police officer i the role ofproseartor, hearig officers allowig o pertiet issues to be addressed at the hearig; ad hearig officers' lack of kowledge of the law, alcohol impairmet of drivig performace, techiques for determiig impairmet, or some combiatio of these. These problems are causig the process to be avoided by police officers i some jurisdictios. Thus, the iteded admiistrative sactios are avoided by violators. Recommedatio: The requiremet for police officers to appear at admiistrative hearigs, schedulig of officers at hearigs, qualificatios ofhearig officers, ad pertiet issues that may be addressed at hearigs should be examied. Coclusio: Judges eed more iformatio o offeder characteristics ad sactioig alteratives to develop effective setecig packages. Recommedatio: Judges should be provided iformatio o offeder characteristics ad sactioig alteratives for use i setecig. Setecig guidelies for violatios of laws regardig alcohol-related drivig should also be provided. Research fidigs o the effectiveess of sactios for DWI eed to be dissemiated to judges i a easy-to-use format

14 PROBL MSAND SOLU77ONSINDWI ENFORCEM RT SYSTLVE Coclusio: Public support for DWI eforcemet is critical to maitaiig a acceptable level of performace. Recommedatio: Commuities should develop ad carry out public iformatio programs o the ature ad extet of the alcohol-crash problem locally, ad o resources ad legislatio eeded for eforcig BAC laws. Coclusio: The itroductio of laws limitig the BAC of various categories of drivers may otbe havig ay serious impact o DWI eforcemet. Specifically, laws settig the BAC limit at 0.08 has had little affect o the fuctioig of agecies ivolved i DWI eforcemet. I states havig so-called "zerotolerace" laws foruderage drivers, isufficiet iformatio existed durig this project to determie whether these laws are creatig difficulties or are ot achievig their iteded results. However, limited data suggest that there are problems i processig juveiles suspected of violatig zero-tolerace laws, particularly i trasportig ad holdig such suspects. Recommedatio: More research o the ature, provisios, ad impact of zero tolerace laws should be coducted. NHTSA is ow examiig zero-tolerace laws ad their applicatio for youth. This should help fill this gap. xiv

15 1- INTRODUCTION The geeral objective of this project was to determie where ad how differet types ofdwii eforcemet systems fail i their missio to reduce alcohol-impaired drivig ad to suggest fixes for those failures. This project was cocered with improvig the performace of govermetal agecies that eforce laws limitig the blood alcohol cocetratio (BAC) of drivers of vehicles that operate o our atio's roads ad highways. I this report we call the collectio of these agecies i a give jurisdictio, ad their procedures ad resources, a "DWI eforcemet system." Specific objectives of the project were: to describe various ways beig used i the Uited States to eforce2 laws limitig a driver's blood alcohol cocetratio (BAC); to idetify sigificat problems that occur i DWI eforcemet systems ad the impact of these problems o catchig law violators ad subjectig them to appropriate sactios; ad to suggest chages i DWI eforcemet that would prevet or ameliorate these problems. BACKGROUND We evisage the Traffic Law System (TLS) as oe of may societal systems that attempt to maage risk created by our Highway Trasportatio System (Joes ad Joscely, 1976). Traffic crash risk is the particular domai of the TLS.. I a positive sese, the TLS provides guidelies for the ormal operatios of the Highway Trasportatio System, ad i a egative sese, it prohibits actios that create traffic crash risk ad geerates forces desiged to cotrol those actios. I geeral; its objective is maitaiig crash risk at a level that is tolerable to society. For may reasos, DWI eforcemet systems ofte fail to maitai drikigdrivig risk withi tolerable limits. Such system failures are the result of a failure r I this report, the term "DWI" is used geerically to describe drivig with a illegally high blood alcohol coceatio (BAC). Other terms that we used by some jurisdictios iclude DUI (drivig uderthe ifluece) ad DWAI (drivig while ability impaired), amog others. 2 The term "elforcemat" is used i this report to idicate the fall rage of fimctios'that are performed by DWI eforcemet systems i creatig a deteretthreat for discouragig violatios of BAC laws. This demo icludes the U ditioal eforcemet fuctio dealig with the detectio ad apprehesio of law violators, as well as the subsequet fuctios of adjudicatio ad sactioig. We will use the more arrow defiitio of the term that excludes adjudicatio ad sactioig i later discussios. 1

16 PROBLEM SANDSOLUTIONSINDWIENFORCMEV7'SYS7FMS of the system to perform oe or more of its costituet fuctios. Usually, the failures are ot catastrophic, but merely result i reduced performace. For example, jurisdictios rarely cease to detect ad apprehed DWI violators etirely, but oly fail to detect ad apprehed eough of them. The reasos why these failures occur are of major cocer i this project. The failure to detect ad apprehed eough alcohol-impaired drivers may simply be due to too few police officers observig for cues to drivig while itoxicated (DWI). However, failures are very seldom isolated but are itercoected with other failures. For example, the lack of officers observig for'dwi may be due to a lack of commad emphasis of DWI eforcemet, which is due to a lack of public support for ecessary resources, which is due to poor public iformatio programs publicizig local alcohol-related traffic crashes ad describig alcohol-crash risk compared with the risk of violet crimes. Thus, lookig for chais of failures that defie the failure modes of a DWI eforcemet system is ecessary. It is ot eough just to look for idividual failures. The situatio is made eve more complex by the possibility of multiple failure modes behid a sigle system failure. Aother failure mode resultig i a failure to detect ad apprehed eough alcohol-impaired drivers may origiate with poorly desiged ad time-cosumig procedures for police-officer participatio i adjudicatio proceedigs. Such procedures could udermie police motivatio to detect, apprehed, ad process DWI suspects. Fially, a system may be experiecig multiple system failures, with each system failurebeigthe resultofseveral simultaeously-occurrig admutually-reiforcig failure modes. For example, besides the failure modes cotributig to the detect-ad failures described above, oe might have several other failure modes apprehed resultig i a failure to impose effective sactios to deter alcohol-impaired drivig. This project was cocered with idetifyig commo failures ad failure modes i DWI eforcemet systems ad igeeratig promisig ways of dealig with them. Problems arisig i the eforcemet of laws dealig with driver impairmetby drugs other tha alcohol were ot addressed explicitly i this project, although some of the sameproblems caoccuri eforcigboth alcohol-impairmet ad drug-impairmet laws. From the defiitio above, the DWI eforcemet system is clearly cocered with a particular type of traffic-crash risk, that which is created by alcohol-impaired drivers. At the highest level, the formal fuctios of a DWI eforcemet system are law geeratio, law eforcemet, adjudicatio, ad sactioig, defied broadly as follows: Law Geeratio Defie the target risk precisely; Prohibit behavior that creates risk (i.e., drivig with a BAC exceedig specified limits); 2

17 INTRODUCTION Provide forthe operatio of the DWI eforcemet system through procedural guidelies, creatig ecessary etities, ad fudig them. Law Eforcemet. Detect ad apprehed violators for further system actio; ad Maipulate huma behavior to prevet violatios. Adjudicatio Determie if risk-takig occurred for idividuals appreheded by Eforcemet; Determie the validity of risk prohibitios by Law Geeratio; ad Provide fudametal fairess essetial for system operatio. Sactioig Provide the ultimate system respose to esure that the sactioed idividual will ot egage i risk-takig i the future (specific deterrece); ad Provide a patter of resposes to idividual risk takig that iflueces all potetial risk-takers to refrai from such actios (geeral deterrece). Besides the traditioal fuctios listed above, a fifth, less formal, fuctio is cocered with the dissemiatio of iformatio amog the compoets of the system ad to potetial DWI violators, amog others? May govermetal agecies ad istitutios are ivolved i performig these fuctios. However, the DWI eforcemet system has o "system maager" (because of the America doctrie of separatio of powers), ad has o "system specificatio" for describig what the system or ay of its compoets should do. Actually, the DWI eforcemet system is a "system of systems," each operatig almost idepedetly i some jurisdictio, but loosely boud by a commo set of priciples. SCOPE AND APPROACH This project dealt with all of the fuctios of the DWI eforcemet system as defied above, but was most iterested i the eforcemet fuctio as affected by other fuctios of the system. The processes ivolved -i the Law Geeratio fuctio were ot examied i this project, but pertiet BAC laws that must be "eforced" by the other three fuctios were of cocer. I our aalyses of these processes, we also looked for system failures that might be associated with laws specifyig differet BAC limits for differet groups of drivers. 3 Note that these fuctios are top-level fuctios. Each of them ca be (ad is i our aalyses) broke dow ito lower-level fractio. 3

18 PROBLE BAND SOLUTIONSINDWI ENFORCER ENT SYSTEMS The project ivolved several tasks. First, we developed measures of the performace of DWI eforcemet systems. The, criteria were developed for selectig case-study sites at which the operatio of various classes of systems could be observed. Criteria for selectig the members of a expert pael were also developed at this time. We the developed a set of specificatios of a traditioal DWI eforcemet system. The specificatios were used as a framework for aalyzig the systems ad as a basis for comparig othertypes ofdwi eforcemet. Remaiig tasks ivolved the idetificatio of system failures ad suggested fixes. All of this work was supported by ideas from the pael ad by iformatio gaied i the site visits. The expert pael was absolutely crucial to the coduct of this study, providig operatioal experiece i all ofthe fuctioal areas ofthe DWI eforcemet system. The pael was ot asked to reach a cosesus o ay particular issue, but merely to provide the idividual members' opiios o those issues. It cosisted of six members selected based o subject area expertise ad kowledge, willigess ad ability to work ad participate i cooperative group discussios, ad represetatio of both atioal orgaizatios ad local practitioers. The pael helped i developig more detailed descriptios of commo types of systems. The pael also helped i determiig how ad why these systems sometimes fail to operate as they were desiged to operate, ad i developig the fixes for the failures. Two, two-day meetigs of the pael were held durig the study. Other iformatio about the operatio of DWI eforcemet systems was obtaied through a series of telephoe discussios with eforcemet ad adjudicatio staff i several states. ORGANIZATION OF THE REPORT This report cotais five chapters ad oe appedix. I Chapter 2, a detailed descriptio of a baselie or omial DWI eforcemet system is preseted as a basis for comparig other systems examied durig the project Chapter 3 describes DWI eforcemet systems i three case-study jurisdictios. Problems beig experieced i those systems, ad some solutios beig cosidered by various system actors are also discussed i Chapter 3. Failures i performig DWI eforcemet system fuctios are described i Chapter 4, alog with brief descriptios of suggested fixes to the failures. Some cosideratios importat to carryig out the alteratives are also discussed i Chapter 4. The coclusios ad recommedatios flowig from the study are preseted i Chapter 5. The appedix summarizes the results of the telephoe discussios. 4

19 2 - THE BASELINE SYSTEM INTRODUCTION I this chapter, we preset a set of specificatios describig the operatio of a traditioal, o-frills DWI eforcemet system. This system was used i this project as a basis for aalyzig DWI eforcemet systems. Note that the baselie system was ot chose to represetthe most commo DWI eforcemet systems atiowide. Rather, it reflects our perceptio of the least complex ad most basic system as a stadard for comparig the wide variety of systems, that geerate ad eforce BAC laws. The specificatios defie the fuctios of this baselie system at various levels of detail. A separate flow chart has bee prepared for each level. Iterfaces with other fuctios are depicted i the chart, ad alterate paths to ad from fuctios are show. A arrative descriptio ofthe process at a give level accompaies the flow chart, showig what is doe i each fuctio. Fially, a table is provided summarizig possible measures of the performace of the system i performig its various fuctios. Types of resources eeded are also show i the table. As idicated i the prior chapter, this project is attemptig to improve the fuctioig of the process through which BAC laws are eforced. The laws themselves state maximum BACs permitted for specified driver groups. Geeral types of BAC laws of cocer i this project are: Group BAC Limit All Drivers DWI 0.08, 0.10 DUI 0.05, 0.08 Uder Age Commercial 0.04 Commercial 0 (Out of Service) Recogizig the complexity of the DWI eforcemet process, we used a systems approach to help us orgaize our thikig. We did this to make sure that our aalysis cosidered all of the importat aspects of the etire process ad did ot ed up recommedig chages to oe part of the process that might adversely affectother parts ofthe process. I otherwords, we wat to improve the fuctioig ofthe etire process i its missio of reducig the traffic crash risk created by drikig drivers. To apply the systems approach to this problem, we defied a DWI eforcemet 5

20 PROBLEMSAND SOLUTIONSINDWI ENFORCEMENT SI3TF system that employs the processes ad resources of the larger crimial justice system. I attemptig to reduce drikig-drivig crashes, this DWI eforcemet system performs four major fuctios: BAC Law Geeratio Law Eforcemet Adjudicatio Sactioig I our aalysis framework, we call these fuctios "top-level" fuctios. For the most part, these fuctios are performed sequetially. The BAC Law Geeratio fuctio is a iput fuctio, ad its processes were ot examied here, but pertiet BAC laws that must be "eforced" by the other three fuctios were of cocer. This process, alog with a summary descriptio of the activities performed i each factio ad the resources (persoel, equipmet, ad facilities) ivolved i each fractio, comprises a top-level descriptio of a DWI eforcemet system. Clearly, this descriptio is much too broad to depict the complexity of such a system i some real jurisdictio. We eeded to, go to lower levels of detail to uderstad how such a system really works ad to suggest chages that might improve its performace. To do this, we bega breakig dow each the top-level fuctios ito smaller pieces that we call "lower-level fuctios." For example, the top-level fuctio "Law Eforcemet" i some' give jurisdictio might have "Perform Surveillace" ad "Detect Violator" as two of several lower-level fmctios. The relatioships betwee these fuctios could also be depicted i a lower-level flow chart. We call a descriptio at this level a "first level descriptio." Eve this level of detail is ot sufficiet for the purposes of this project. To decide what is really happeig, we eeded still more detail, ad to get this detail, we broke dow each of the frst level fuctios ito its costituet secod-level fuctios that were the flow-charted ad described. From this aalysis, we obtaied ot oly a descriptio of what each part of the system does ad the resources required for doig it, but also the relatioship of each part to all other parts of the system. This iformatio is essetial for assessig the performace of the whole system ad for geeratig ideas for improvig system performace. INFORMATION SOURCES Iformatio for developig the baselie system was obtaied from several sources. These sources ad the methods used i obtaiig iformatio are described below. 6