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November 13th, 2009, 08:37 PM
Houston police confirmed Thursday that a group of officers will be trained to draw blood from DWI suspects, KPRC Local 2 reported.
From Thanksgiving through the first of the year, the DWI task force plans to use mandatory blood tests. <nobr style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 100%; color: darkgreen;" id="itxt_nobr_2_0"></nobr> (http://www.officer.com/online/article.jsp?siteSection=1&id=49322#)Some are required by law. Others are allowed with a warrant.
For now, they will only be conducted by trained medical professionals. But soon, HPD plans to train officers to take blood.
The department said logistics have delayed the training for police.
"On DWI cases, time is your enemy. Every minute that goes by, we lose evidence. So, if we have officers that are at the station that do those types of blood draws as opposed to having to go to the hospital and tie up a nurse, tie up a medic over there, it's gonna get that done a lot faster," said Don Egdorf with the Houston Police Department.
Even though an appeals court <nobr style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 100%; color: darkgreen;" id="itxt_nobr_6_0"></nobr> (http://www.officer.com/online/article.jsp?siteSection=1&id=49322#)recently threw out a case in Fort Worth where an officer withdrew blood from a struggling suspect, Houston police said it believes the program is constitutionally sound.
"As far as legality, any kind of issues like that, there are none. Under the law in Texas, as long as you're a qualified technician, meaning you've gone through the proper training, procedures, had everything signed off and go through it and are qualified, you can do a blood draw," Egdorf said.
Of the 234 traffic deaths in Houston last year, more than half involved impaired drivers. Sixty percent of the wrecks in the Houston area involve drugs and/or alcohol.
There were 6,183 DWI arrests in Houston in 2008.
"If you drink, drive, get arrested for DWI, you go to jail -- simple as that," Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt said.
From Thanksgiving through the first of the year, the DWI task force plans to use mandatory blood tests. <nobr style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 100%; color: darkgreen;" id="itxt_nobr_2_0"></nobr> (http://www.officer.com/online/article.jsp?siteSection=1&id=49322#)Some are required by law. Others are allowed with a warrant.
For now, they will only be conducted by trained medical professionals. But soon, HPD plans to train officers to take blood.
The department said logistics have delayed the training for police.
"On DWI cases, time is your enemy. Every minute that goes by, we lose evidence. So, if we have officers that are at the station that do those types of blood draws as opposed to having to go to the hospital and tie up a nurse, tie up a medic over there, it's gonna get that done a lot faster," said Don Egdorf with the Houston Police Department.
Even though an appeals court <nobr style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 100%; color: darkgreen;" id="itxt_nobr_6_0"></nobr> (http://www.officer.com/online/article.jsp?siteSection=1&id=49322#)recently threw out a case in Fort Worth where an officer withdrew blood from a struggling suspect, Houston police said it believes the program is constitutionally sound.
"As far as legality, any kind of issues like that, there are none. Under the law in Texas, as long as you're a qualified technician, meaning you've gone through the proper training, procedures, had everything signed off and go through it and are qualified, you can do a blood draw," Egdorf said.
Of the 234 traffic deaths in Houston last year, more than half involved impaired drivers. Sixty percent of the wrecks in the Houston area involve drugs and/or alcohol.
There were 6,183 DWI arrests in Houston in 2008.
"If you drink, drive, get arrested for DWI, you go to jail -- simple as that," Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt said.