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Thursday, August 30, 2012
By Michael Nichols
The Michigan State Police launched a new campaign to "crackdown" on young males who believe they can drive drunk because they are "professionals" - but the new public service campaign comes at a time when some in Michigan law enforcement do not appear to be investigating its own with the same vigor as any other citizen. "The fact that the trooper in the new 'drive sober gets pulled over' looks the camera in the eye and claims 'I know all your tricks' seems a little hypocritical on the heels of a highly-publicized accident in which an off-duty Dewitt Township Police officer got some questionable treatment," says OWI-OUIL-DUI attorney Mike Nichols of Lansing.
The new campaign uses young male drivers' own words from focus group research to discourage drinking and driving. The MSP announcement about the focus group can be found here:
http://www.michigan.gov/msp/0,4643,7-123--284379--,00.html
Nichols added: "I am concerned not only that we will start hearing officers walk into court and testify that the failure of a young man to wear a hat while driving shows that he was trying to 'trick' law enforcement ... but I am also concerned that law enforcement is 'cracking down' by strenuously investigating only certain classes of cases."
An off-duty Dewitt Township Police officer was given a portable breath test by his own department after an accident on August 18th. He had crashed into a house and was with another off-duty officer. Both had consumed alcohol. He was not arrested.
"He is absolutely entitled to the presumption of not guilty," Nichols points out. Nichols adds "I am really concerned that an outside department was not called in immediately to administer a PBT. Further, most people would be arrested after an accident in which a car hit a house and the driver consumed alcohol regardless of whether the PBT showed them over the limit. I do encourage the goal of reducing drunk driving but not at the expense of the same standard for everyone
News coverage in the Lansing State Journal, including the story in which Mike Nichols was quoted, can be found elsewhere on the homepage of nicholslawyers.com or at http://www.lsj.com