If you drive in or through Loudoun County the following is what you should know about how DUI’s are treated by police. If you have been accused or charged with DUI call a Loudoun County DUI lawyer today to set up a free consultation.
For patrol officers especially, DUI enforcement is a particularly keen field of interest.
First off, patrol officers are tasked with keeping the roads in Loudoun County safe. As such, they want to look for impaired drivers who may cause accidents and may be a danger to other drivers. The main subset of these impaired drivers are DUI or DWI drivers. Law enforcement officials receive training in how to detect DUI drivers, how to conduct field sobriety and other tests, and how to make arrest statements during potential DUI cases.
Because of the safety issue and because of the public pressure, as well as the efforts of public interest groups, DUI enforcement happens very often, especially on nights, weekends, and around special events. DUI enforcement is absolutely an important point of emphasis—if not the greatest point of emphasis—for deputies, state troopers, and town officers that do traffic patrol.
The most common DUI offenses involve alcohol. They’re the easiest to prove and they’re the most straightforward. However, there’s an increasing number of DUI cases being charged in Loudoun County involving driving under the influence of drugs or DUI-D.
DUI-D cases involve driving when the operator of the motor vehicle has not consumed alcohol but has consumed drugs and may be driving impaired because of their consumption of drugs. This obviously does not involve the same type of breath test.
However, officers will use their experience in identifying potential drug users and potential drug behavior to determine whether or not a driver should be charged with a DUI-D offense.
Oftentimes they ask questions about drug consumption and look for physical characteristics of drug consumption, such as slurred speech, excitability, unusual behavior, and decreased motor skills. They may also search the car for drug paraphernalia or drugs themselves, which would lead the officers to believe that the operator has consumed drugs.
Northern Virginia Criminal Defense Group
