I am trying to put together a little manual for the taking of Blood via a search warrant in alcohol/drug/driving offenses for our county police departments. I have the TDCAA forms but does anyone have any material or ideas about what should go into this sort of "how to" manual for law enforcement folks. Once I get it put together, I will be glad to send it out to anyone who wants it but I would rather not reinvent the wheel. Police generally won't read a bunch of case law...but check lists...SOPs...code sections etc., might be helpful to them. I plan on including a disc with the forms and any other resources that I can come up with...any ideas??? Thanks in advance FE

I put together a set of forms and checklists a few months back which I'll be glad to send you. I'll be back in the office Monday and I'll send it to you. I hope it helps.

Be sure and put in a part that tells officers not to take the drunk with them to the judge's house to get the warrant signed. A rookie cop did this recently, and we had a judge up in our office upset at US because we didn't tell the officer not to take the drunk to the judge's home. If the drunk was drunk, she won't remember where the judge lives, and how are we supposed to know to tell officers not to do every conceivable stupid thing? But apparently we're supposed to think of everything.

Jane, Sounds like pretty good first-hand pc to me...

Fred, would you mind sending me a copy of your material? I'll send you a private topic message (bottom of this page) with my contact info.

Thanks

Greg

Fred, I would love a copy when you get it done so I can pass it along to Highway Patrol.

Thanks,

Janette A
DPS

One caveat to include....once you start the process....don't allow the drunk to change his mind and consent. Presumably, he has not been told prior to being asked to provide a sample that a warrant is an option. Once he has refused, and once told a warrant will be requested, stay the course and follow thru.
That way you don't have a consent issue with no warrant being signed.
I also advise the officer not to mention the warrant option until all warnigs have been given and a refusal documented.
Would also like a copy of what you are doing when finished.

What's wrong with telling the drunk the truth about a warrant? An officer with probable cause to believe the defendant was DWI has authority to seek a search warrant, with or without a refusal. So, why would a consent (which is already implied from the presence of a licensed driver) be any less voluntary simply because the officer provided the driver with that information?

In addition, the consent for a BT is not the sort of consent that is required for surrender of a constitutional right. The consent originally intended for a BT is simply the physical cooperation in the collection of a breath or blood sample. Courts have stretched, mangled and abused the notion of BT consent until we have all decided it has been elevated to one of constitutional magnitude.

So, my advice to local officers is that the officer may seek to obtain the drunk driver's consent to a BT by informing of an upcoming legal option upon refusal: a search warrant for blood.

I will gladly defend that before a court.

Drinking in truck leads to DWI arrest

By Daniel K. Lai

A 28-year-old Taylor resident was arrested Thursday afternoon on a felony DWI charge after officers saw him drinking alcohol while waiting at a stop light.

According to Taylor Police Department Capt. Don Georgens, around 6:50 p.m. officers on patrol near the 300 block of North Main Street saw the driver of a Dodge pickup truck consuming alcohol while waiting at a light.
Georgens said Jason McCall Smith was arrested after failing to complete a field sobriety test. He was charged with felony driving while intoxicated.

�When officers tried to apprehend the suspect, he began struggling with them and pulling away, refusing to be taken into custody,� Georgens said.

Officers obtained a search warrant to take a sample of Smith's blood after Smith refused to comply with the request.

�The suspect was taken to a hospital in Georgetown where, based on the orders of the search warrant, a sample of blood was extracted and sent to the Texas Department of Public Safety lab for testing,� Georgens said.

McCall was transported to Williamson County Jail.

�Let this be a lesson to individuals,� Georgens said. �If you are pulled over for a suspected DWI offense, you should comply with the request for a blood test or else we will get a search warrant and we will obtain it.�

John, et al, it sounds like your law enforcement folks are using the blood search warrant route on a regular basis. I've set up a program that included all of the necessary forms and check lists on paper and a cd, a county-wide meeting to explain the program and distribute the forms, and contact phone numbers of the relevant judges (they already have the phone numbers of myself, several ada's, and our on-call prosecutor pager #). At the meeting, I attempted to explain the need for a search warrant in certain situations but I also told them that it was certainly their discretion re when to use the procedure. But no one is using a search warrant... We see the refusal cases come through which would have been good "candidates" for a search warrant. We're trying to spread the word at intake but I'm wondering if we need stricter guidelines re the use of a bsw. I would really like some input from successful programs with respect to your guidelines re when a bsw is "suggested." I can be contacted at distattorney@co.liberty.tx.us if anyone would prefer a private response. Thanks.

The officers in my county are getting a blood search warrant in every refusal case (when the officer is motivated enough to do it). I bought fax machines for the magistrates to maintain at home to speed up the process. Make sure your forms are simple, fill in the blank forms to make it as easy as possible.

We review videotapes in no-test cases before filing. If it is declined, we send a note to the officer indicating that a blood search warrant should have been obtained. This gives them some incentive to get one the next time.

How many jurisdictions are having the police officers draw blood? I read an article that said one county had every police officer certified to draw blood.

Anyone familiar with this?


John

That would be Dalworthington Gardens PD (in Tarran County I believe). They had their entire force (under 20 officers) certified as phlebotomists and set up a room that qualifies as a "sanitary place" in the PD for drawing blood. One legislator has filed a bill that would specifically exclude peace officers from those authorized to draw blood under 724.017.

Janette A

We set the cutoff for DWI blood search warrants at the felony DWI level to avoid burning out our judges with excessive search warrants (we have 4 that can sign an evidentiary search warrant). We also bought them fax machines to speed up the process. The heads of all local law enforcement signed on to the program and we are getting blood or breath tests in about 90 percent of our cases now.