An Arizona Department of Public Safety officer has been arrested on suspicion of extreme DUI.
Theodore Edwards, 44, was not on duty at the time and he was in a privately-owned vehicle, said Sgt. Fabian Pacheco, a Tucson Police Department spokesman.
Edwards was arrested Sunday after a couple noticed him having a hard time getting into his vehicle in the Park Place parking lot, Pacheco said.As Edwards was backing his vehicle out, he nearly struck the couple’s car, they told police.
The couple followed Edwards as he headed south on Wilmot Road, traveling at a high rate of speed and nearly striking a median several times, Pacheco said.
They called police when Edwards pulled into the drive through of a Taco Bell at East 22nd Street and Wilmot.
Officers responded to the Taco Bell around 9:40 p.m. and made contact with Edwards who was still in the drive through, Pacheco said.
They conducted a DUI investigation and cited Edwards on suspicion of DUI, DUI with a BAC above .08 and extreme DUI.
He was released to his DPS supervisor who was called to the scene, Pacheco said.
His vehicle — a white Ford Expedition — was impounded.
By law, the legal limit is .08. A charge of extreme DUI is imposed when a person has a BAC of .15 or greater.
Tucson police declined to release what Edwards BAC was.
Source
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Off-duty Arizona DPS officer cited for DUI
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - Authorities say an Arizona Department of Public Safety officer has been arrested in Tucson on suspicion of extreme DUI.
Tucson police say 44-year-old Theodore Edwards was not on duty at the time and he was in a privately-owned vehicle.
Police say Edwards was arrested Sunday night after a couple noticed he was having a hard time getting into his vehicle in the Park Place parking lot and called police when they saw him drive erratically.
Police caught up with Edwards at a fast-food restaurant, conducted a DUI investigation and cited Edwards on suspicion of DUI, DUI with a blood-alcohol content above the state's legal limit of .08 and extreme DUI.
Police declined to release what Edwards' blood-alcohol content was but say he was released to his DPS supervisor who was called to the scene.
Source
Tucson police say 44-year-old Theodore Edwards was not on duty at the time and he was in a privately-owned vehicle.
Police say Edwards was arrested Sunday night after a couple noticed he was having a hard time getting into his vehicle in the Park Place parking lot and called police when they saw him drive erratically.
Police caught up with Edwards at a fast-food restaurant, conducted a DUI investigation and cited Edwards on suspicion of DUI, DUI with a blood-alcohol content above the state's legal limit of .08 and extreme DUI.
Police declined to release what Edwards' blood-alcohol content was but say he was released to his DPS supervisor who was called to the scene.
Source
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Arizona DUI task force update
Phoenix, AZ - As of early saturday morning the new Arizona DUI task force efforts that are scheduled to last through September 7, 2009 had netted 120 DUI arrests statewide.
Police agencies throughout Arizona, including Phoenix, Scottsdale and Tucson are participating in the efforts, which include DUI checkpoints and saturation patrols.
Throughout the state they made 700 stops. Of the 120 DUI arrests, there were 12 felony DUIs and 115 misdemeanors. There were also 13 minors arrested.
"This time of year police agencies in Arizona pool their resources towards DUI enforcement," said Arizona DUI lawyer Stewart Bergman, whose practice in Scottsdale focuses on defending people accused of DUI throughout the greater Phoenix area. "It is not unusual to see a Gilbert Police Officer patrolling in Scottsdale, or a Scottsdale Officer working in Glendale or Phoenix."
While the pooling of police resources makes it easier for law enforcement to concentrate on any given area in the state, it can create logistical problems.
"After a large task force event, you might see a DUI case charged in Scottsdale Municipal Court because the arrest was made there. But then you have a Gilbert Police Officer who made the stop and took a blood sample. Gilbert sends their blood samples to the Chandler Crime Lab for analysis. So you end up with a prosecutor's office like Scottsdale using Chandler and Gilbert city witnesses in the prosecution."
The logistical difficulties of getting several law enforcement agencies to cooperate and coordinate during a DUI prosecution can provide an advantage to the defense, especially when the DUI defense attorney is on top of the situation and make appropriate and frequent requests for discovery. Because of the administrative slowdowns, there is often times more opportunity to get favorable deals.
"It is never worth it to drink and then drive in Arizona," says Bergman, "because we see cases getting charged where the person is well under the legal limit."
Under Arizona DUI Law, the police can charge a person with being impaired to the slightest degree even if the person is well under the legal limit of 0.08 percent body alcohol concentration. And prosecutors are capable of getting convictions for DUI when the persons alcohol level is as low as a 0.06, or 75 percent of the legal limit.
"Task force events are about more than pure public safety," explained Bergman. "They are about numbers, and between and within some police departments, they may even be about competition. Because of this, even if you know you are okay to drive but have had drinks, if you can find another way to get home it is a cheap insurance plan against getting a DUI."
A first offense Arizona DUI can carry up to a minimum of 45 days in jail, depending on the alcohol level, and comes with loss of driving privileges, ignition interlock devices and heavy fines.
Source
Police agencies throughout Arizona, including Phoenix, Scottsdale and Tucson are participating in the efforts, which include DUI checkpoints and saturation patrols.
Throughout the state they made 700 stops. Of the 120 DUI arrests, there were 12 felony DUIs and 115 misdemeanors. There were also 13 minors arrested.
"This time of year police agencies in Arizona pool their resources towards DUI enforcement," said Arizona DUI lawyer Stewart Bergman, whose practice in Scottsdale focuses on defending people accused of DUI throughout the greater Phoenix area. "It is not unusual to see a Gilbert Police Officer patrolling in Scottsdale, or a Scottsdale Officer working in Glendale or Phoenix."
While the pooling of police resources makes it easier for law enforcement to concentrate on any given area in the state, it can create logistical problems.
"After a large task force event, you might see a DUI case charged in Scottsdale Municipal Court because the arrest was made there. But then you have a Gilbert Police Officer who made the stop and took a blood sample. Gilbert sends their blood samples to the Chandler Crime Lab for analysis. So you end up with a prosecutor's office like Scottsdale using Chandler and Gilbert city witnesses in the prosecution."
The logistical difficulties of getting several law enforcement agencies to cooperate and coordinate during a DUI prosecution can provide an advantage to the defense, especially when the DUI defense attorney is on top of the situation and make appropriate and frequent requests for discovery. Because of the administrative slowdowns, there is often times more opportunity to get favorable deals.
"It is never worth it to drink and then drive in Arizona," says Bergman, "because we see cases getting charged where the person is well under the legal limit."
Under Arizona DUI Law, the police can charge a person with being impaired to the slightest degree even if the person is well under the legal limit of 0.08 percent body alcohol concentration. And prosecutors are capable of getting convictions for DUI when the persons alcohol level is as low as a 0.06, or 75 percent of the legal limit.
"Task force events are about more than pure public safety," explained Bergman. "They are about numbers, and between and within some police departments, they may even be about competition. Because of this, even if you know you are okay to drive but have had drinks, if you can find another way to get home it is a cheap insurance plan against getting a DUI."
A first offense Arizona DUI can carry up to a minimum of 45 days in jail, depending on the alcohol level, and comes with loss of driving privileges, ignition interlock devices and heavy fines.
Source
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
More than 1,100 arrested in Arizona anti-DUI effort
More than 1,100 arrests were made during a statewide DUI task force that wrapped up Monday, according to the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety.
The 18-day task force began Aug. 21 and resulted in 1,136 arrests for suspicion of DUI, including 49 on Monday, according to a news release issued by the state agency.
About 34 percent arrests made during the task force for were suspicion of extreme DUI, which means the person’s blood-alcohol content was 0.15 or higher, the release said. The legal limit in Arizona is 0.08.Additionally, 375 citations were issued for underage consumption of alcohol, and another 185 DUI drug citations were issued, the release said.
Source
The 18-day task force began Aug. 21 and resulted in 1,136 arrests for suspicion of DUI, including 49 on Monday, according to a news release issued by the state agency.
About 34 percent arrests made during the task force for were suspicion of extreme DUI, which means the person’s blood-alcohol content was 0.15 or higher, the release said. The legal limit in Arizona is 0.08.Additionally, 375 citations were issued for underage consumption of alcohol, and another 185 DUI drug citations were issued, the release said.
Source
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Smoking, DUI laws reduce demand for liquor licenses
PHOENIX — Nearly five years ago, lobbyists for Arizona's liquor industry succeeded in convincing lawmakers that there was a pent-up demand for hundreds of new liquor licenses.
But in the first four years after the law passed in 2005, just 151 new licenses were issued to liquor stores, bars and restaurants, according to a state audit report. That's less than a third of the number expected.
Liquor industry officials cite a tough business climate and the ongoing recession, a recent crackdown on DUI offenders and a new statewide ban on smoking in bars and other public places.
"All these things have had an effect," said Bill Weigele, president of the Arizona Licensed Beverage Association. "The marketplace has changed."
In fact, the sales price for existing licenses has dropped in recent years, with prices for a bar license in the Phoenix area slipping from $100,000 to $85,000 or $90,000, he said.
The 2005 law included a four-tier system for allotting a total of 120 additional licenses a year to counties based on their populations. The allotments ranged from 30 annually for Maricopa County, which includes most of the Phoenix area, to three for each of seven counties with populations less than 100,000.
Arizona hadn't awarded licenses since the late 1980s before the 2005 law passed. That was largely because holders of existing licenses didn't want to diminish their resale value.
Resistance from some local governments also proved to be a factor.
"It was thought that we should put some more out there to relieve the (cost) pressure," said Jerry A. Oliver Sr., director of the Arizona Department of Liquor Licenses and Control.
The new allotments did help make licenses more affordable "for a little guy," partly because the state doesn't charge commissions on its sales, according to Oliver.
He said brokers began lowering prices on resale licenses in response, reducing interest in the new ones being issued by the state.
And the recession began taking its toll on overall demand.
"There was some disappointment. We thought we'd do better," Oliver acknowledged.
The new licenses were expected to produce approximately $6.3 million of new state revenue annually, according to a 2005 legislative staff memo.
However, a recent state audit report says the amount actually generated in the four fiscal years that ended June 30 totaled about $15.6 million.
The fixed annual allotments go away in 2010, replaced under the 2005 law by a formula keyed to population growth.
Weigele, a real estate broker specializing in bars and restaurants, said he doesn't expect demand for liquor licenses to increase much.
Even before the recession hit, Arizona's 2007 law requiring first-time DUI offenders to install breath-test devices on their vehicles "was a killer" that keeps many casual drinkers home, Weigele said. A voter-approved ban on smoking in bars, restaurants and other public places took effect in 2007.
"There's not going to be the demand there was previously," he said.
"We're on the road to becoming a dinosaur. There are just too many reasons.
Oliver, who is active in an association of state liquor regulators, said Arizona "is probably in worse shape" on interest in new liquor licenses than other states because of its stringent DUI laws, the smoking ban and other factors.
"I think it's going to be a while for us to turn it around here," he said.
Source
But in the first four years after the law passed in 2005, just 151 new licenses were issued to liquor stores, bars and restaurants, according to a state audit report. That's less than a third of the number expected.
Liquor industry officials cite a tough business climate and the ongoing recession, a recent crackdown on DUI offenders and a new statewide ban on smoking in bars and other public places.
"All these things have had an effect," said Bill Weigele, president of the Arizona Licensed Beverage Association. "The marketplace has changed."
In fact, the sales price for existing licenses has dropped in recent years, with prices for a bar license in the Phoenix area slipping from $100,000 to $85,000 or $90,000, he said.
The 2005 law included a four-tier system for allotting a total of 120 additional licenses a year to counties based on their populations. The allotments ranged from 30 annually for Maricopa County, which includes most of the Phoenix area, to three for each of seven counties with populations less than 100,000.
Arizona hadn't awarded licenses since the late 1980s before the 2005 law passed. That was largely because holders of existing licenses didn't want to diminish their resale value.
Resistance from some local governments also proved to be a factor.
"It was thought that we should put some more out there to relieve the (cost) pressure," said Jerry A. Oliver Sr., director of the Arizona Department of Liquor Licenses and Control.
The new allotments did help make licenses more affordable "for a little guy," partly because the state doesn't charge commissions on its sales, according to Oliver.
He said brokers began lowering prices on resale licenses in response, reducing interest in the new ones being issued by the state.
And the recession began taking its toll on overall demand.
"There was some disappointment. We thought we'd do better," Oliver acknowledged.
The new licenses were expected to produce approximately $6.3 million of new state revenue annually, according to a 2005 legislative staff memo.
However, a recent state audit report says the amount actually generated in the four fiscal years that ended June 30 totaled about $15.6 million.
The fixed annual allotments go away in 2010, replaced under the 2005 law by a formula keyed to population growth.
Weigele, a real estate broker specializing in bars and restaurants, said he doesn't expect demand for liquor licenses to increase much.
Even before the recession hit, Arizona's 2007 law requiring first-time DUI offenders to install breath-test devices on their vehicles "was a killer" that keeps many casual drinkers home, Weigele said. A voter-approved ban on smoking in bars, restaurants and other public places took effect in 2007.
"There's not going to be the demand there was previously," he said.
"We're on the road to becoming a dinosaur. There are just too many reasons.
Oliver, who is active in an association of state liquor regulators, said Arizona "is probably in worse shape" on interest in new liquor licenses than other states because of its stringent DUI laws, the smoking ban and other factors.
"I think it's going to be a while for us to turn it around here," he said.
Source
Monday, September 21, 2009
Hispanic males are now majority in county jails
There's a shift under way in the Maricopa County jails.
The population of White male inmates, after growing steadily for more than a decade, has dropped in the past five years, while the population of Hispanic male inmates has increased to the point that they make up the ethnic majority, according Sheriff's Office data.
Experts say the explanation for the increase is largely due to overall population trends coupled with a series of recent laws and policy decisions targeting illegal immigrantsThe majority of Hispanics in county jails are not in the country illegally. However, most of the illegal immigrants jailed as a result of immigration-enforcement efforts are Latino.
In 2006, County Attorney Andrew Thomas issued an opinion allowing prosecutors to charge illegal immigrants as co-conspirators in their own smuggling. Voters also approved Proposition 100, which denies bail to illegal immigrants.
In 2007, the Sheriff's Office, Phoenix police and the state Department of Public Safety entered into agreements allowing officers and deputies to receive Immigration and Customs Enforcement training. Voters approved the Legal Arizona Workers Act, the state's employer-sanctions law.
Sheriff Joe Arpaio has used ICE-trained deputies to conduct crime sweeps in neighborhoods with high Hispanic populations and work-site raids, which frequently result in arrests for warrants and other crimes that have nothing to do with immigration.
Arpaio pointed to his policy decisions and the new laws as a reason for the jail-population shift, particularly the denial of bail to illegal immigrants.
"They're staying there. They're not getting the revolving door. When we arrest them, they can't get right out on bond," Arpaio said.
On average, about 12 percent of the inmates in county jails have immigration holds. Some of those inmates are picked up on suspicion of crimes such as identity theft or illegal entry, while other inmates with immigration holds are brought in for outstanding warrants or crimes such as DUI.
"These numbers don't represent a pattern of crime, they reflect a pattern of enforcement," said Alessandra Soler Meetze, executive director of the Arizona ACLU, a group that is suing the Sheriff's Office over allegations of racial profiling.
Arpaio said his deputies and other law-enforcement agencies weren't looking to arrest minorities and pointed to the Hispanic population's rapid growth.
Still, putting large numbers of police officers and deputies in Latino neighborhoods would clearly result in more Latinos going to jail, said Nastassia Walsh, a research analyst with the Justice Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C.,-based group that advocates alternatives to incarceration.
"What you see across the country, and probably one of the main reasons why there is so much of a disproportionate minority portion of the prison population is because law enforcement tends to focus on lower-income communities and communities of color when they're doing their enforcement," Walsh said.
About 8,000 men are in county jails each day, a number that's remained unchanged in the past five years.
• The number of Hispanic men in county jails increased by more than 28 percent between 2004 and 2008, from 2,751 in 2004 to more than 3,500 last year. The number of Hispanics in Maricopa County increased by more than 20 percent, from 982,000 in 2004 to more than 1.18 million in 2007, the last year with ethnic data available from the U.S. Census.
• The number of White men in county jails fell nearly 18 percent, from 3,580 to 2,938 in that same time span, while the number of Whites in the county rose by almost 7 percent.
• The number of Black men in county jails continued to increase, from 986 to 1,158 in that five-year period, and now make up more than 14 percent of the jails' male population. Blacks make up about 4 percent of the county's population.
Jail officials said those population shifts have led to increasing ethnic tensions among inmates. Officials instituted a pair of rare systemwide lockdowns in the past two months, including one last week after intelligence indicated a large-scale disturbance between Black and Hispanic inmates, officials said.
The lockdown was lifted on Thursday and a small disturbance erupted the following day. Arpaio described the incident as "racially motivated," and officials locked down a unit of the Lower Buckeye Jail.
These population shifts have occurred while Maricopa County, like the rest of the country, has seen an overall decline in violent crime.
Walsh said a similar pattern emerged during the late 1990s, when violent crime was on the decline and incarceration numbers continued to rise. "Law enforcement focused their efforts on drug crime (in the 1990s) and because they're a 'victimless crime,' they're very rarely reported as crime," she said. "Because crime is going down, police have more time to go look for people who are here illegally, or for people who are selling drugs."
But the raw data makes it difficult to draw any conclusions about the types of crimes residents of different ethnic backgrounds commit.
"I can only go on statistics in the jail, but that doesn't mean that everybody committing crime is arrested, there could be 1,000 people committing a crime that aren't arrested," Arpaio said. "That's pretty tough to try to make that qualification (about race and crime), you can't just go by what we got in jail."
Source
The population of White male inmates, after growing steadily for more than a decade, has dropped in the past five years, while the population of Hispanic male inmates has increased to the point that they make up the ethnic majority, according Sheriff's Office data.
Experts say the explanation for the increase is largely due to overall population trends coupled with a series of recent laws and policy decisions targeting illegal immigrantsThe majority of Hispanics in county jails are not in the country illegally. However, most of the illegal immigrants jailed as a result of immigration-enforcement efforts are Latino.
In 2006, County Attorney Andrew Thomas issued an opinion allowing prosecutors to charge illegal immigrants as co-conspirators in their own smuggling. Voters also approved Proposition 100, which denies bail to illegal immigrants.
In 2007, the Sheriff's Office, Phoenix police and the state Department of Public Safety entered into agreements allowing officers and deputies to receive Immigration and Customs Enforcement training. Voters approved the Legal Arizona Workers Act, the state's employer-sanctions law.
Sheriff Joe Arpaio has used ICE-trained deputies to conduct crime sweeps in neighborhoods with high Hispanic populations and work-site raids, which frequently result in arrests for warrants and other crimes that have nothing to do with immigration.
Arpaio pointed to his policy decisions and the new laws as a reason for the jail-population shift, particularly the denial of bail to illegal immigrants.
"They're staying there. They're not getting the revolving door. When we arrest them, they can't get right out on bond," Arpaio said.
On average, about 12 percent of the inmates in county jails have immigration holds. Some of those inmates are picked up on suspicion of crimes such as identity theft or illegal entry, while other inmates with immigration holds are brought in for outstanding warrants or crimes such as DUI.
"These numbers don't represent a pattern of crime, they reflect a pattern of enforcement," said Alessandra Soler Meetze, executive director of the Arizona ACLU, a group that is suing the Sheriff's Office over allegations of racial profiling.
Arpaio said his deputies and other law-enforcement agencies weren't looking to arrest minorities and pointed to the Hispanic population's rapid growth.
Still, putting large numbers of police officers and deputies in Latino neighborhoods would clearly result in more Latinos going to jail, said Nastassia Walsh, a research analyst with the Justice Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C.,-based group that advocates alternatives to incarceration.
"What you see across the country, and probably one of the main reasons why there is so much of a disproportionate minority portion of the prison population is because law enforcement tends to focus on lower-income communities and communities of color when they're doing their enforcement," Walsh said.
About 8,000 men are in county jails each day, a number that's remained unchanged in the past five years.
• The number of Hispanic men in county jails increased by more than 28 percent between 2004 and 2008, from 2,751 in 2004 to more than 3,500 last year. The number of Hispanics in Maricopa County increased by more than 20 percent, from 982,000 in 2004 to more than 1.18 million in 2007, the last year with ethnic data available from the U.S. Census.
• The number of White men in county jails fell nearly 18 percent, from 3,580 to 2,938 in that same time span, while the number of Whites in the county rose by almost 7 percent.
• The number of Black men in county jails continued to increase, from 986 to 1,158 in that five-year period, and now make up more than 14 percent of the jails' male population. Blacks make up about 4 percent of the county's population.
Jail officials said those population shifts have led to increasing ethnic tensions among inmates. Officials instituted a pair of rare systemwide lockdowns in the past two months, including one last week after intelligence indicated a large-scale disturbance between Black and Hispanic inmates, officials said.
The lockdown was lifted on Thursday and a small disturbance erupted the following day. Arpaio described the incident as "racially motivated," and officials locked down a unit of the Lower Buckeye Jail.
These population shifts have occurred while Maricopa County, like the rest of the country, has seen an overall decline in violent crime.
Walsh said a similar pattern emerged during the late 1990s, when violent crime was on the decline and incarceration numbers continued to rise. "Law enforcement focused their efforts on drug crime (in the 1990s) and because they're a 'victimless crime,' they're very rarely reported as crime," she said. "Because crime is going down, police have more time to go look for people who are here illegally, or for people who are selling drugs."
But the raw data makes it difficult to draw any conclusions about the types of crimes residents of different ethnic backgrounds commit.
"I can only go on statistics in the jail, but that doesn't mean that everybody committing crime is arrested, there could be 1,000 people committing a crime that aren't arrested," Arpaio said. "That's pretty tough to try to make that qualification (about race and crime), you can't just go by what we got in jail."
Source
Monday, September 7, 2009
Police team up for DUI patrol based in Peoria
The Peoria Police Department will join the West Valley DUI Task Force for a mass DUI patrol starting at 7 p.m. July 11.
The command post will be at Peoria Public Safety Administration Building, 8351 W. Cinnabar Ave.
They will patroll the West Valley to take drivers who have had too much to drink off the streets before they injure or kill themselves or another. The event is funded by the Arizona Governor's Office of Highway Safety.
The agencies participating are the police departments from Avondale, Buckeye, El Mirage, Glendale, Goodyear, Peoria, Phoenix, Surprise, Tolleson, Youngtown, Arizona State Liquor Control and the Arizona Department of Public Safety.
While the presumed level for DUI is .08 percent, in Arizona you are DUI if your ability to drive is impaired to the slightest degree, no matter your blood alcohol percent.
Average cost and jail time of a first offense DUI:
• DUI: $3,260, 10 days in jail and one-year ignition interlock device
• Extreme DUI (.15 percent to .19 percent BAC): $5,956, 30 days in jail, one-year ignition interlock device
• Super Extreme DUI (.20 percent or greater): $8,336, 45 days in jail, 18 months ignition interlock device
Source
The command post will be at Peoria Public Safety Administration Building, 8351 W. Cinnabar Ave.
They will patroll the West Valley to take drivers who have had too much to drink off the streets before they injure or kill themselves or another. The event is funded by the Arizona Governor's Office of Highway Safety.
The agencies participating are the police departments from Avondale, Buckeye, El Mirage, Glendale, Goodyear, Peoria, Phoenix, Surprise, Tolleson, Youngtown, Arizona State Liquor Control and the Arizona Department of Public Safety.
While the presumed level for DUI is .08 percent, in Arizona you are DUI if your ability to drive is impaired to the slightest degree, no matter your blood alcohol percent.
Average cost and jail time of a first offense DUI:
• DUI: $3,260, 10 days in jail and one-year ignition interlock device
• Extreme DUI (.15 percent to .19 percent BAC): $5,956, 30 days in jail, one-year ignition interlock device
• Super Extreme DUI (.20 percent or greater): $8,336, 45 days in jail, 18 months ignition interlock device
Source
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