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Joint Summit on Juvenile Justice will be held on September 29, 2010.
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New DWI tactic tried - Campaign launched to prevent test refusals
Law enforcement authorities said Wednesday they plan to launch Louisiana’s first statewide crackdown on drunk driving that features a new strategy to prevent drivers from refusing blood-alcohol content tests. The effort will cover Labor Day weekend — from Friday at 6 p.m. to Tuesday at 6 a.m.
“It is probably the last big party of the summer,” said State Police Supt. Mike Edmonson.
State officials have waged anti-drunk driving campaigns over Labor Day weekend for years. However, this one will include an expanded “no refusal” component aimed at suspects who refuse to take a blood alcohol concentration test, or BAC.
“The fact is people are still dying on the roads because they are drinking and driving,” said Norma Broussard, who is assistant district attorney of Jefferson Parish, which has waged similar crackdowns.
A national study, based on 2005 data, showed that 39 percent of drunk driving suspects in Louisiana refused to take the BAC test, which was the fourth highest of 37 states studied. Under the plan for this weekend, law enforcement officials, citing probable cause, will seek search warrants from judges on standby to conduct a BAC test on a suspect who refuses to submit to one. Fax machines will be one of the methods used to seek a court order. Emergency medical personnel will do the blood alcohol test. Broussard said similar drunk driving campaigns have been waged in Texas and have been upheld in court. She said another legal challenge to the “no refusal” campaign is pending in Lake Charles, where authorities have used similar methods to trim drunk driving.
“It is constitutional,” Broussard said. “Any police officer can apply for a search warrant.”
Under state law, first-time offenders who refuse to take a BAC test face a six-month suspension of their driver’s license. However, some drivers prefer that to penalties for a drunk driving conviction. In 2009, five of 12 Labor Day weekend highway deaths in Louisiana were alcohol related, said Lt. Col. John LeBlanc, executive director of the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission. The commission is providing $1.2 million in grants to law enforcement agencies to pay for more than 40,000 hours of overtime, sobriety checkpoints and other steps. The effort includes the State Highway Patrol, police, sheriffs and others. A total of 75 agencies will be involved. Edmonson said that, in his 31 years with the State Highway Patrol, the percentage of alcohol-related highway deaths statewide has only dropped from 52 percent to 49 percent.
“That is too high,” Edmonson said, adding that Louisiana’s culture that celebrates food and drink is partly to blame. “We have to have penalties in place that make a difference,” he said.
In 2009, 409 people died in alcohol-related traffic accidents in Louisiana.
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Published 9/2/10 - The Advocate
Cold case cards generate tips
Four of the unsolved homicide and missing person cases featured on decks of
cards given to the public and sold to inmates at state prisons have been closed. The cards — called Louisiana Cold Case — were unveiled in March and display
information about unsolved, open cases from around the state. Each card has the picture of a murder victim or missing person along with
basic information about the case.
More than 6,000 decks have been sold to state prisons for purchase by
inmates, said Pam Laborde, Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections
communications director. The number of decks bought by inmates was not available, but Corrections
Secretary Jimmy LeBlanc said the department typically sells about 10,000 decks
of cards a year to the prison population.
“With the Louisiana Cold Case Card deck, we’ve accomplished 60 percent of
annual sales in just under six months,” he said. “I’m very happy with those
numbers because I think it shows that our population is interested in the
cases.”
Another 10,000 decks have been handed out to the public across the state at
events such as National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, said Sid Newman, executive
director of Baton Rouge’s Crime Stoppers.
“Hopefully, that deck will get into the right hands, and hopefully that
person will pick up the phone and share what they know,” Newman said.
Whether that happens, however, will be difficult to track.
“Because of the anonymity of the Crime Stoppers program, we will never know
if tips are coming from the offender population or the general public and,
ultimately, it doesn’t matter,” LeBlanc said.
“What does matter is getting information and pictures out there to both
populations so we can generate tips for local law enforcement agencies that are
working hard for the families of homicide victims and missing persons,” he said.
So far, arrests have been made in four of the homicide and missing person
cases featured on the cards. Click here to view full article
Published 8/29/10 - The Advocate
Texting law, others go into effect today - Published August 15, 2010 - The Advocate
Nearly 660 new Louisiana laws go into effect today, including those that outlaw texting while driving and provide more young adults access to health insurance. Others allow people to carry guns into previously off-limits places such as churches and attempt to discourage the fraudulent use of state and federal funds devoted to BP Gulf of Mexico oil disaster-related relief, with whistleblowers eligible for rewards.
Already the constitutionality of two of the new laws aimed at discouraging abortions has been challenged in a federal court lawsuit. Both have been placed on hold for now. The laws were approved in the 2010 regular legislative session, which ended June 21.
Beginning today, drivers can be ticketed for text messaging as they navigate cars on state highways and city streets. Texting or e-mailing becomes a primary offense and a moving traffic violation. Previously, a driver could be cited only if stopped for another traffic violation.
Penalties — with an exception for emergencies — can reach up to $175 for the first offense and $500 for subsequent offenses.
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