NHTSA's provides refresher courses for DUI officers that provides updates in the practice of DUI law enforcement. While the Washington State Patrol has its officers participate in these programs many of the local municipalities do not have their officers refresh and update their DUI practice. However, toward the back of this course manual are some articles that do not tend to be very objective. The following is directly from this manual and can be found on page 166. The manual can be found at this link:
The manual states:
CLAIM: The stop was pretextual. The officer was on a fishing expedition and merely stopped someone at random in hopes of catching an impaired driver.
RESPONSE: The real challenge here is whether there was reasonable and articulable suspicion of a traffic violation to justify the stop. The officer must be able to articulate what caused him to stop the driver in the first place.
What is interesting in NHTSA's response (hence, law enforcement's response) is that they are not stating that a pretextual stop is illegal, which it is! They are suggesting that if the officer sees behavior after he has decided to stop someone on a fishing expedition then it is acceptable. This legal area is gray as to whether this behavior would be lawful but it is disturbing to think that law enforcement does not separate itself from potentially illegal activity.
This reminds me of a particular Deputy Sheriff in the Snohomish County area. His name is Deputy J. Latimer. He is a motor cycle officer who sits in the same place every day (at least when he is working). He parks his motor cycle in an area where the speed decreases from 60 mph to 40 mph and catches drivers as their speed decreases from 60 mph to 40 mph. He carefully hides his motor cycle behind some bushes and catches drivers before they can see him. I know this because I see Deputy Latimer once or twice a day as I pass him by – plus my office has received dozens of complaints about this particular officer and his antics. So the question is, is Deputy J. Latimer of the Snohomish County Sheriff's Department participating in the practice of entrapment? The answer is no, he is not. However, the practice leaves a bad taste in the community's mouth and is completely unnecessary – oh, it's also lazy and poor police work in the minds of many. So I ask again, why does law enforcement walk so close to the line that divides legal and illegal activity? Why?
For information on your Washington State DUI please contact our Snohomish County DUI attorneys, Whatcom County DUI attorneys, King County DUI attorneys, Island County DUI attorneys, Skagit County DUI attorneys, Mt Vernon DUI attorneys, Everett DUI attorneys, Lynnwood DUI attorneys, Mukilteo DUI attorneys, or Anacortes DUI attorneys at 425-493-1115 or check out our website at http://www.washdui.com
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