Now, as I've stated before on the DUI Attorney Seattle Blog, even though I'm a Seattle DUI attorney, I am not for people driving drunk. I think it is dangerous and could potentially cause a lot of harm to the driver and the general public. With that being said, however, I believe the widespread "crackdown" on drunk driving and teen alcohol consumption is taking the easy way out for a lot of politicians and law enforcement officials.
What I'm saying is, I'm not too far out of college, which makes me not too far out of high school (and I think we can all remember those days). These crackdowns on alcohol consumption and drunk driving have not proven to curb these problems - people still do this all the time. And most of the time the people that are caught are not or have not caused any actual problems, they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
For example, the story reports that police officers who were staking out a graduation party (is this really how we need to be using our resources, by the way?) were able to break up a party of about fifty high school kids in the Tacoma area. And what did they find at the party? Beer, bongs, and a little bit of marijuana. Oh, and some red plastic cups, used not only for drinking liquids, but playing a game called beer pong, where people drink a quarter of a glass of beer if you throw a ping pong ball in the cup (my brother is in college right now and owns a beer pong table). Not only that, but after the party was broken up, those cited with MIPs were taken down to the police station and given counseling and processed! What a huge waste of time.
I guess my point is this. Why are we handing out Seattle MIP citations instead of tracking down identity thieves, patrolling downtown Tacoma for trouble, or doing any number of other things that actually have a community impact. I myself got a minor in possession citation when I was in college. For me and most of my friends it was a right of passage. Although this makes for a great article and makes me happy as a Seattle DUI attorney, it really doesn't make any sense from a criminal justice standpoint.
Although I am well aware that these DUI emphasis patrols will be going on probably forever, it just makes no sense as to why they continue to happen. It's not like areas where these patrols weren't going on saw any increase in DUI accidents or any accidents related to alcohol consumption. And although we did get a couple of beer bongs off the street and break up a beer pong tournament, it just doesn't seem to be worth the effort.
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