The 7 Most Frequent Mistakes Made By Police
No one is perfect, not even police officers. And, in many instances, police officers will make mistakes while they are working.
The result is possible mistakes made in your stop, arrest and citation of a DUI.
Of course we can’t expect a police officer to be perfect all the time. We can, however, expect a certain level of consistency and professionalism from those who’ve chosen to “serve and protect.”
Because your specific situation has its own set of circumstance and it’s possibly fresh in your mind, let’s take a look at the 7 most frequent mistakes made by police officers during a Mississippi DUI stop and Tennessee DUI Stop.
They are:
1. Illegal stop of a motorist. This is where the officer does not have a legal reason to pull you over. To be pulled over, the officer needs reasonable suspicion.
2. Failing to follow procedures and rules when administering the field sobriety tests.
3. Failing to follow procedures when administering a preliminary breath test. A breathalyzer is a piece of machinery. Machines need to be taken care of, maintained and services properly. They also break or become inaccurate.
4. Making incomplete or inaccurate reports about the arrest. Each person perception is different, some people hold biases against others and people don’t always remember things properly. Police have lots of paperwork to do and sometime the paperwork doesn’t get finished or completed in its entirety.
5. Not preparing for trial. Police who are overworked and on the beat see literally hundred of DUI’s every year. The fact is, they don’t have the time to properly prepare for each trial they are required to be at. Further, since your arrest, they’ve arrested hundreds of other people for DUI and other offenses and they probably don’t even remember arresting you. Remember, this is just a job to them. All they have to go on is the report, which may or may not be correct.
It’s important to remember that police are people too, just trying to do their job the best way they know how. It’s important they do it right 100% of the time, because your freedom is on the line.
It’s also important that police officers are honest when they are pulling people over, administering tests, handling people and making their reports.
I’ve gone home from court very upset on a number of occasions when I felt a police officer was not telling the truth. Sometimes I can prove it, sometimes I can’t. Either way, it’s a terrible feeling for me when I know a police officer is being less than truthful. Ultimately, it’s going to affect my client, personally.
It’s important that I, as your attorney, carefully examine each and every part of your case to make sure that the procedures were followed. If not, then you can rest assured that I’ll fight like a dog to see that your rights are protected.
