Saturday, December 21, 2024
The Latest DUI News and Information From DUI Defense Attorneys Across the Country

DUI Quotas

The Chicago Tribune reported on February 27th that a former, now retired, Des Plains police commander accused of padding DUI arrests to obtain federal grant money was arraigned in federal court. 

According to the report, Timothy Veit, 55, the retired police commander involved, purportedly had falsely inflated DUI arrest numbers by 122 arrests over the three year period from 2009 to 2012 to “fraudulently obtain” $132,893 in grant money from the Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. 

Veit allegedly went so far in his reporting as to provide fake BAC levels for the “fictitious” arrests he reported. The arrests were purportedly inflated to meet requirements that one DUI arrest be made for every 10 hours of overtime work put in by officers in this program. 

Veit had himself been paid $25,603 in overtime in 2011, $11,530 in 2010, and $3,042 in 2009, although it was unclear, the Tribune reported, how much, if any, of the overtime money came from this DUI program. 

In Indianapolis, our officers on this, or a similar federally funded program, regularly testify that they must make a certain number of stops, and one OWI (DUI) arrest in every eight (8) hours of overtime work to justify the time and one-half (1 ½) hourly rate they are paid to search for DUI drivers. The question for judges and juries is this, to what lengths will individual officers go to make the DUI arrests necessary to justify making time and one-half of their normal hourly rate in overtime? 

One Indiana Court has written as follows on the subject: 

            . . . [A] program that conditions funding on officers either citing or arresting drivers at a certain rate causes us concern, as the motivation for fabrication or unreasonable citations or arrests is obvious.” Schumm v. State, 866 N.E.2d 781, 786 fn.1, (Ind.Ct.App.2007), rehearing granted 868 N.E.2d 1202 (Ind.Ct.App.2007). 

So should it be obvious to all.

If you have a OWI (DUI) question in Indiana or Indianapolis, call me — J. J. Paul, III — at 317-632-4463, contact me by email at jjpaul@vzplaw.com, or visit our website at www.vzplaw.com.

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J. J. Paul

J. J. Paul, III (Jess), of Indianapolis, is a Founding Member of the National College for DUI Defense (NCDD). He served as both Regent and Dean of the NCDD, and was named a Fellow of the College in 2004. Mr. Paul has lectured at seminars in OWI (DUI) Defense Law in Indiana since 1983, and has taught DUI defense strategies in 16 states, internationally, and, since 1996, at NCDD Summer Sessions conducted at the Harvard Law School. In 2006 he was awarded the highest honor the NCDD may bestow on a DUI Defense Lawyer, the Erwin-Taylor Award—the fifth of seven lawyers in America to receive the award. He co-authors the yearly Board Certification examination in DUI Defense Law, given by the National College for DUI Defense, and was instrumental in the American Bar Association’s accreditation of the NCDD’s board certification program in 2004. Mr. Paul has been recognized by Super Lawyers, Best Lawyers in America, Best Lawyers in Indiana, and carries an AV rating from Martindale-Hubbell, standing for the highest legal ability and ethical standards. He is Board Certified* in DUI Defense Law, the first of only two lawyers in Indiana to be Board Certified in DUI Defense Law by the NCDD.* Mr. Paul is licensed in Indiana, the Northern and Southern Federal District Courts, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court. He has authored more than 60 appellate briefs, including the case of Hannoy v. State, in which a police policy of drawing blood in any fatal or serious bodily injury accident in the absence of probable cause or consent was ruled unconstitutional. He has authored two Petitions for Certiorari to the United States Supreme Court in Indiana OWI (DUI) cases. *The NCDD Board Certification in DUI Defense Law is not recognized in Indiana. It is accredited by the American Bar Association and recognized in more than half of the States. The National College for DUI Defense is not a governmental agency, and its Board Certification does not grant or imply a specialization status in Indiana.

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