One of the officers in my jurisdiction has approached me with the idea of creating a procedure so that blood draws for DWI cases are done by a phlebotomist that is an employee of the police department/city. Current procedure is that the officers take the defendants to the local hospital for a blood draw. Under the proposed idea, the draws would be done at the nurses office of the county jail. My concern is the attacks that could be made regarding the training of the person drawing the blood, and the conditions of the location of the draw. The benefit to the police agency would be a much quicker turnaround on processing DWI cases. Do any of the police agencies in your jurisdiction have any procedures other than taking a defendant to a hospital? Any opinion re: this idea?

Similar issue is before the cca in State v. Johnston, 305 S.W.3d 746 (Tex.App.-Fort Worth 2009, pet. granted)

http://www.cca.courts.state.tx.us/issues/ISSUES.htm ("09-1736 JOHNSTON, CHRISTIE LYNN 08/25/10")

About 2 years ago the Williamson County Sheriff agreed to train some of it's infirmary employees in blood draws. The employees already had some training as paramedics or EMT, and they attend a course that certifies them as a phlebotomist. We worked out a procedure where a suspect who is being brought to the jail on a case where a mandatory blood draw is allowed (or by consent), the booking desk is contacted to be sure a phlebotomist is available. The blood draws are done in the infirmary area. We have yet to have a real challenge in court. One attorney went so far as to view the location, and I think never ended up pursuing it.

It's been a great time-saver for officers, who only have to divert to a hospital if the phlebotomist isn't available. The hospital also liked the procedure and it made it easier to work out the procedures to expedite it when it must be done at the hospital.

The process was originally set up for warrant blood draws, but then the law changed, so we were ahead of the game. E-mail me if you'd like a copy of the instructions given to law enforcement or a contact at the jail to find out about which training program they send their employees to.

The Johnston case involves the officers themselves taking the draws. However, the court of appeals opinion (currently being reviewed by CCA) is instructive on some protocols that may make any jail draws less susceptible to defense attack (this is not to suggest that the things that the court of appeals discusses in Johnston are, or even should be, constitutionally or legally required for admission of the draws, but they might give you food for thought in advising your agencies).

Johnston was reversed.
Johnston

Interesting that they side-stepped the officer training issue and just found that this officer was qualified because of his training as an EMT.