Cops trained to take blood at suspected dwi stops

[Sanity Claws]

It's all part of training he and a select cadre of officers in Idaho and Texas have received in recent months to draw blood from those suspected of drunken or drugged driving. The federal program's aim is to determine if blood draws by cops can be an effective tool against drunk drivers and aid in their prosecution.

If the results seem promising after a year or two, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will encourage police nationwide to undergo similar training.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_police_dui_blood

I am appalled at this. I don't want anyone sticking needles in me. Who knows how clean they are? Police state, here we come.

[laconicsax]

1. Fantastic

:puke:

[bbinacan]

2. I'm appalled as well. n/t

[TexasObserver]

3. Police taking blood. Now I've heard it all.

Let's just have road blocks and instant DNA swab and analysis. Keep a database, and anyone whose DNA shows up at any crime scene can be held without bail until they can prove they didn't do it.

[charlie]

13. Cops are already way ahead of you

In Indiana, a guy blew negative on a breathalyzer, which made the cop unhappy. So, he was arrested, taken to a hospital, strapped to a gurney, and had a catheter jammed up his willie. When the blood and urine tests came back negative, the unhappy cop was unhappier, so he was charged with obstruction of justice. You WILL be a criminal if a cop wants you to, even if it's for having the temerity to be innocent.

http://www.wpbf.com/health/20703731/detail.html

[Ikonoklast]

4. Training or no, the lawsuits will fly.

This is not only a bad idea, it is an INSANE idea.

They'll have to fucking shoot me first.

[dsc]

5. If I am ever stopped I will insist upon blood

I don't drink and thus have 0% chance of having any alcohol but I am quite uncoordinated and might well flunk a field sobriety test as they are subjective. On edit: I do have a problem with people who are not well trained taking blood.

[Sanity Claws]

8. But needles can be dirty and cause permanent problems.

Blood samples can be mixed up.
Then there's the pain problem.I have small veins and even well-trained nurses have problems getting blood from me.

A lot of cop cars have video cameras. They can tape the sobriety test or the alleged weaving in traffic. That should solve the problem of the subjective tests you mentioned.

[BlooInBloo]

9. More relevantly: planted evidence.

[dsc]

10. evidence can be planted but it would be pretty hard to do

It isn't like showing my DNA is where it wasn't but something is in my blood which wasn't. I would vastly prefer independent drawing and testing of the blood for that reason, but can live with cops if the process is independently monitored.

[LisaL]

12. I have small veins also. One time the nurse tried to take blood

and it was a nightmare. She had to stick me like four or five times before she hit a vein. Now they are saying a police can do this on the road?
Boggles my mind.

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. As clean as the needles used by Paramedics in the field

the issue is more on civil rights than on whether you can train a cop to be a phlebotomist which can be done... and it is easy.

That said, if you are drunk and driving under the influence they can take that blood if you refuse other testing... and they can also take your licence away.

Perhaps I am a little biased, but since I have seen the consequences of people driving drunk, and i know the law says you can do this already, I am not that torn...

Repeat after me, they already can do this legally.

[Vickers]

7. The Polizei do this in Germany.

:shrug:

[LisaL]

11. I agree with you totally.

Don't want anyone sticking any needles in me either.

[safeinOhio]

14. I hope the dash camera is running

when the guy gets his first 500lb drunk.