DUI News

DUI Arrest Contests in Florida

DUI Arrest Contest
DUI Arrest Contest

We continue to be amazed at the commercialization and profit-centered efforts turning law enforcement into an industry. These efforts include: DUI Arrest contests; private jails; grants; private cameras; or having property seized and sold at auctions. The grants for enforcement are for their efforts against drugs (usually marijuana/cannabis) and driving under the influence. The private cameras placed are placed on public lands generating millions for out-of-state entities at the expense of those ticketed, arrested.

The incentive to arrest first came to our attention when we noticed expensive equipment being awarded by public and private organizations to police agencies that met certain targets for traffic law enforcement. We have written about DUI arrest contests repeatedly.


Disturbing DUI Arrest Contests

We have written about these disconcerting DUI arrest contests in Florida cases repeatedly:

Arrest Contests Continue

One Largo DUI officer has won money for Pinellas DUI Arrests. As attorney W.F. Casey Ebsary has previously reported, various organizations continue to pay awards for criminal charges of DUI.

Florida DUI Contest Winners

Before you believe that Florida DUI officers do not have an incentive for DUI arrest, there was a recent DUI Award Banquet Honoring Florida Highway Patrol giving away equipment worth tens of thousands of dollars.

DUI-Arrest Contest Rules and Prizes

DUI Attorney on Florida’s West Coast just uncovered the “rules” for a recent DUI Arrest Contest. The awards are characterized as DUI enforcement equipment, some of it valued at thousands of dollars. As a Criminal Defense Attorney, I am not …

Police Are Taking Vehicles

DUI Florida Vehicle Forfeited – $17,000
Appeals court rules on forfeiture of a vehicle following a conviction for felony driving under the influence.

Appeals court rules (in a case where W.F. ”Casey” Ebsary, Jr. was not the attorney of record) that forfeiture of a vehicle following the conviction for felony driving under influence DUI / DWI constituted a punishment. The court found that the loss of the defendant’s vehicle was subject to a proportionality analysis. Conclusion: Forfeiture of $17,000 vehicle was not grossly disproportionate to defendant vehicle owner’s repeated DUI and related offenses.

Source: 34 Fla. L. Weekly D787a

When Vehicle Forfeiture for a Florida DUI is a problem, Board Certified Criminal Trial Lawyer, W.F. ”Casey” Ebsary, Jr. is here to help. Call Toll Free 1-877-793-9290.

Florida DUI Vehicle Forfeiture


Source: http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/subindex/traffic/red_light_cams
Tampa Redlight Camera Map
news.duifla.com/2011/07/tampa-redlight-camera-map.html‎

by W.F. Casey Ebsary, Jr.in 530 Google+ circles

A cop from Southwest Florida explains how they decide to issue Red light camera / Traffic Camera citations. With one small Florida town bagging nearly a …

Red-light Cameras Are Legal

The Florida Supreme Court ruled on May 3, 2018, preserving the red-light camera law. Tickets carry a $158 fine. The University of South Florida’s John Large, PhD, Barbara Orban, PhD, and Etienne Pracht, PhD, found in their peer-reviewed statistical analysis that red light cameras do NOT save lives and do NOT save money. They found several government-funded studies actually stated injury or severe crashes increased with the red light cameras. Many Florida cities say they won’t be using them.

DUI News

Florida DUI Arrest Contest Costs $1,720,000

Arrest Contest, DUI Arrest, DUI Arrest Contest,
Give away $18,000
Cost citizens nearly $2,000,000.
9500 percent ROI. 

How to Win a DUI Arrest Contest


As a Georgia DUI Lawyer noted, when contests and quotas are in play, some police agencies keep their eyes on the prize. In that case , there is a civil rights lawsuit attacking quotas for DUI Arrests.

Florida DUI Arrest Contest – True Costs

Meanwhile, back in Florida, one small Florida town became the best losers by finishing second in the DUI Arrest Contest that is an ongoing competition to see who can make the most arrests and win cash and prizes. They won $18,000 for 86 arrests.

 

Let’s do the math (show your work) and find the actual cost to some Americans – $1,720,000.

86 Arrests x $5,000.00 Legal Fees =   $   430,000
86 Arrests x $2,500.00 Fines =  $   215,000

86 Arrests x $12,500 Insurance Increase = $1,075,000


Total Estimated Costs to Citizens =                  $1,720,000


Great return on investment.

Give away $18,000 and cost citizens nearly $2,000,000.
This is a 9500 percent return on investment ( ROI ).

By the way, the headline read, “Village police win $18,000 for DUI safety equipment.” The police in this town also train cops in the faux science of Drug Symptom Recognition. The chief of police sends his”Drug Recognition Enforcement (DRE) program officers to attend numerous DUI checkpoints and training to gain valuable experience.”  We have covered the fake science associated with Drug Recognition Experts and their creation by the DUI Industrial Complex here.

Read the complete DUI Arrest Contest Winners story here:

Previous Florida DUI Arrest Contest Coverage

 

 

DUI News

DUI Arrest Contest Rules and Prizes

Florida DUI Arrest Contest Rules and Prizes
Florida DUI Arrest Contest Rules and Prizes
DUI Arrest Contest
Rules and Prizes

Rules and Prizes


DUI Attorney on Florida‘s West Coast just uncovered the “rules” for a recent DUI Arrest Contest. The awards are characterized as DUI enforcement equipment, some of it valued at thousands of dollars. As a Criminal Defense Attorney, I am not aware of a single other crime where rewards are given based on arrests. The stakes are high for the contestants as one prize is, “one fully equipped vehicle” Just in case the Florida DUI cops are embarrassed by our uncovering this scam buried deep in their website and decide to take it offline,  we have placed a Copy of the DUI Arrest Contest Rules here.

The Rule book opens like this:

“The Florida DUI Sustained Enforcement Program supports this goal by rewarding agencies for conducting high visibility DUI enforcement operations. The FDOT Safety Office has established an incentive program with four levels of participation. Each law enforcement agency can select the level of participation that fits its manpower availability. The Law Enforcement Liaison Program will collect monthly reports filed by the participating agencies, determine what participation level each agency has met at the end of the calendar year, and provide access to an online equipment catalog. Agencies can select DUI enforcement equipment based on the participation points that they have earned directly from the online catalog.”


Florida DUI Arrest Contest Rules and Prizes


Scoring System:

Conduct/Host DUI checkpoint:                       100 points
Saturation Patrol:                                              20 points
Attend Checkpoint hosted by other agency: 10 points
Platinum 6000 DUI Enforcement Activity Points Earned
Gold         4000 DUI Enforcement Activity Points Earned
Silver 2000 DUI Enforcement Activity Points Earned
Bronze 1000 DUI Enforcement Activity Points Earned”


The “points” actually have a cash value that our investigation uncovered:
Platinum Level Award $15,000
Gold Level Award         $10,000
Silver Level Award          $5,000
Bronze Level Award        $2,500

They even have a lottery type “drawing” for other prizes:

In addition to the regular program rewards, all agencies that qualify at the Bronze or Silver levels will be eligible for a random drawing for a laser speed measuring device. All agencies that qualify at the Platinum or Gold levels will be eligible for a random drawing for one fully equipped vehicle to be used exclusively for DUI enforcement by the winning agency.

Caught Up in Their Game? Call Casey at 813-222-2220


 

DUI News

DUI Arrest Contest Trophy?

DUI , DUI Arrest, DUI Arrest Contest
DUI Arrest Contest Trophy

Arrest Contests for DUI


DUI Attorney Lawyer  noticed this was parked outside of the Hillsborough County Courthouse in Tampa, Florida this morning. This is an outrageous scenario and there are few, if any, other crimes that give out trophies for arrests (not even requiring convictions). Ironically the Championship DUI vehicle was parked right outside of a County Courtroom where jurors were reporting for duty this morning.


Here are  some good jury questions:

Hey Champion, do you have to give back the SUV if we acquit this defendant for DUI?

How many people do you arrest for DUI to win an SUV?

DUI Arrest? Call Casey 813-222-2220


 

DUI Patrol Vehicle
Photo Credit: DUI Attorney Lawyer
Photo Credit: DUI Lawyer Attorney 
DUI Patrol Vehicle 
Photo Credit: DUI  Defense Attorney Lawyer
DUI Attorney, DUI Lawyer, DUI Arrest Contests

 

DUI News

More DUI Arrest Contest News

Arrest Contests for DUI
Arrest Contests for DUI
DUI Defense Attorney Observes: As we continue to tally the awards given to police officers who arrest drivers, we felt this newsletter excerpt from the Tampa Police Department would continue to establish that enforcement of DUI has become a contest, where the prizes are awarded to the cops, and the criminal record is given to the drivers. We have yet to receive an answer to these questions “Do they have to give the award back, when someone is cleared of the charges after one of these arrests?” and “Who paid for the trip, hotel rooms, and travel expenses?”
 

Have you been a pawn in this game? Call Me Toll Free to Discuss 1-877-793-9290.


DUI Arrest Contest News


“[T]he State of Florida MADD Chapter hosted the 8th Annual MADD Awards in Tallahassee. Six members of the DUI Unit attended the banquet and accepted the awards. Officers were recognized for making over 100 individual DUI arrests. Sixteen members, past and present, were presented this award: Sgt. Doug Groves, Cpl. Edwin Bodamer, MPOs Kenny Setser, Steve Wilson, John Vallejo, Steve Buchanan, Brian Reschke, Dean Uno, Officers Ferdinand Barbosa, James Blanchard, Anthony Portman, Steven Cragg, Peter Bucher, Kristie Borgo, Joseph Sustek and Juan Melo. MADD also presented a “Century Achievers Award” for officers who have exceeded 1000 individual DUI arrests. Seven members of the DUI Unit were presented this award: MPOs Kenny Setser, Steve Wilson, John Vallejo Steve Buchanan, Officers James Blanchard, Anthony Portman and Juan Melo. Only 39 officers in Florida have achieved this milestone award. Cpl. Edwin Bodamer and MPO John Vallejo were given an award for the Zero Tolerance (underage drinking) citations issued in 2007. The Tampa DUI Unit continues to lead the DUI efforts in Florida and being recognized on this level by MADD.”

Here is some of Our Past Coverage of this Game:

Jun 19, 2009
There were 13 contest winners at the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office (HSCO) . There were 16 contest winners at the Tampa Police Department (TPD) . These were just the officers who got over a hundred in the year. …
Apr 10, 2008
Florida DUI 100 Arrest Contest Winners. The following officers won the DUI arresting championship for 2007 . The losers were the poor citizens who made up the pawns in this cruel game. MADD, a Political Action Committee who lobbies for …
Aug 05, 2009
 
Tampa DUI Defense Attorney Lawyer Tampa Florida DUI Attorney has been covering the contests where law enforcement can win prizes for issuing citations including DUI. As previously noted here and here. …
Jan 14, 2011
 
After months of embarrassing publicity, the guy has been cleared by my former colleagues at the Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office. Deputy McCalla was previously featured on my site for his win in a big DUI Arrest contest, …