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Get stopped or suspected dui, good luck trying to refuse the breathalyzer. nine states now use no refusal checkpoints. what does that mean? well, police can immediately get a judge s order to draw blood. if you say no to the breathalyzer, this is a pretty big deal because one in four, that s right, one in four dui suspects refuse to blow into that plastic tube. new hampshire significantly higher. 81% will not voluntarily take the test. now, you may not be surprised. no refusal is pretty controversial. groups like mothers against drunk driving say it s necessary to save lives but civil libertarians say this is an overreach of police power. joining me now warren depram, the assistant district attorney in houston. he s a strong proponent of the no refusal program. with me here in atlanta is criminal defense attorney b.j. bernstein. first, we ll start with warren in houston. ....
The breathalyzer. nine states now use no-refusal checkpoints. what does that mean? police can immediately get a judge s order to draw blood if you say no to the breathalyzer. this is a pretty big deal because one if four that s right, one in four dui suspects refuse to blow into the plastic tab. new hampshire, higher, 81% will not voluntarily take the test. you might not be surprised, no refusal is controversial. groups like mothers against drunk driving say it s necessary to save lives. but civil libertarians say that is an overreach of police power. and joining me now, warren detram, assistant district attorney in houston. he is a strong proponent of the no-refusal program. and with me here in atlanta is criminal defense attorney b.j. bernstein. and first we re going to start with warren in houston. you know, explain, warren, how this work. how can a cop at a traffic stop immediately get a judge s order for a blood test? ....
He s a strong proponent of the no refusal program. with me here in atlanta is criminal defense attorney b.j. bernstein. first, we ll start with warren in houston. explain, warren, how this works. how can a cop at a traffic stop immediately get a judge s order for a blood test? well, it s through the use of the internet and technology. not doing it out on the streets. they are actually taken to a centralized facility, a police department or some sort of a fire station or some place where all the tools are in place to get that search warrant reviewed and signed by a judge and to get that blood taken as soon as the search warrant is signed. so you re saying it s not done right out there. there s no judge necessarily right there or there is? no. there s no judge on the street. we do have batmobiles or portable breath alcohol testing mobile units that we use with the montgomery county sheriff s office or the houston police department. every now and then we have nurses and judges avail ....
Judge s order to draw blood if you say no to the breathalyzer. this is a pretty big deal because one in four, that s right, one in four dui suspects refuse to blow into that plastic tube. new hampshire, significantly higher, 81% will not voluntarily take the test. now, you mayan be surprised, no refusal is controversial. groups like mother s against drunk driving say it s necessary to save lives but civil libertarians say this is an overreach of police power. joining me now, the assistant district attorney in houston. he is a strong proponent of the notice refusal program. with me here in atlanta is criminal defense attorney b.j. bernstein. first we ll start with warren in houston. explain, warren, how this works. how can a cop at a traffic stop immediately get a judge s order for a blood test? well, it s through the use of the internet and technology. we re not doing it out on the streets. they re actually taken to a centralized facility, a police ....
If they want to get independent testing with the blood, we do that as well. so, there s no downside to this program. it saves lives. it reduces costs. puts more police officers on the street and it can be done almost instantaneously in most states without legislative involvement or approval. let me ask you this, b.j., as a criminal defense attorney, this is not going to be just quickly, this is not the last we see of this. i imagine this discussion will be in the courts. it s in the court. he s saying some things that he did sd in his jurisdiction that other jurisdictions are not doing. they re having judges on the side of the road, not necessarily doing these pretesting or field sobriety tests. they re just saying, refusal, hi, j he refused, get him arrested. that s going to create some proble problems. and take a blood sample. i assume this conversation will continue. b.j. bernstein here with us in atlanta and warren, assistant district attorney in houston. thank you for bein ....