AUSTIN
Concern grows over police chief's blood-sucking plan for DUI suspects
Cops with syringes and the specter of "Vampire Police."

By John Bush
Guest Commentary

On July 10, 2008, Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo wrote a memo to the Mayor Will Wynn and the City Council expressing his desire to possibly implement a federal pilot program administered by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) which would make it a policy of the Austin Police to forcibly withdraw blood from a motorist who refuses a breathalyzer test. Sound far-fetched or like a page straight out of Orwell's 1984? Well, it's not, and this police policy may become a reality if we do not stand up, educate, activate, and liberate.

Presently, an officer can request a search warrant from a judge or a 24-hour magistrate for a blood sample. Then, the sample must be taken by a "physician, qualified technician, chemist, registered professional nurse, or licensed vocational nurse." (Texas Transportation Code sec. 724.017) The only difference with the NHTSA program is that the officer will be the one taking the blood. Also, it seems that Acevedo will be more actively pursuing breath or blood samples on all DWI stops. When Chief Acevedo said "My intent in the future is to make it so there is no such thing as a refusal. You can refuse all you want, but we are going to aggressively seek search warrants," he made it clear that there will be an increase in blood taken. Right now blood withdrawals are primarily done in the instance of an accident or if the motorist is on probation. This may not be the case in the distant future.

A possible setback the APD may have is the fact that, according to Texas state law, Art Acevedo will have to put his officers through a training program which to legally define them as "qualified technicians." Otherwise, the law will need to be changed at the state level. It would be useful to track the legislative committee(s) which might consider this issue in the upcoming session. I expect that if Chief Acevedo pursues this plan, the Texas Legislature will soon be getting some visits from APD or federal lobbyists.

The positive side of this nightmare is that we have become aware of this plan before it has come to fruition. We have the passion and the people to prevent such a measure from becoming a reality, so if you are interested in preventing this draconian measure from being realized, please contact me for more info. If we act now, we can be victorious.

Contact John Bush @ LibertyLover512 at yahoo dot com.