Drive Hammered Get Nailed commercial...

[asoc]

So, watching tv up here in Washington state...
They have this commercial where they show a guy walking out of a bar stumbling and drunk as heck. He walks to his car and gets in then drives away.

While this is going on the voice over is talking about increased patrols etc. blah blah blah to stop drunk drivers.

Now, the Commercial shows the guy walking by cops on the sidewalk and even as he is pulling out of his parking spot a cop car is there to pull him over right away.

I know they are just trying to get a point across, but how many of those cops could have STOPPED him before he got in his car and prevented any potential accidents or deaths? Instead they just follow him and pull him over as soon as he leaves his parking spot...

[Teanos]

I don't think they can actually do anything if you are drunk but not driving a vehicle (as long as you are not being disorderly). You actaully have to operate the vehicle to get the DUI charge.

Plus, most cops will stake out a bar or club, but they pull people over away from the place so as to not cause a big scene/deal. At least thats what I've been led to believe.

[Gerien]

And Teanos gets the double play.

[asoc]

I understand all that.

But why not work to prevent it from happening instead of just waiting until someone gets in their car and drives?

How hard is it to go up to the person and say, "hey buddy, do you have a friend you can call for a ride or perhaps you could call a cab?"

I think cops do have the ability to confront someone who is clearly drunk in public.

[Teanos]

My company's main office sits on a really busy road/intersection in one of those small style towns that just switched over to new traffic cameras. They have a police station that sits kiddy corner to our main bank/exeutive offices. Two of those traffic cameras are on either side of our building. So what they used to do is sit in our parking lot and clock people who slowed down for the camera, then sped up as soon as they passed it. At one point we had 3 police cars (2 local, 1 state) with people pulled over in front of our bank. You can imagine the fun that our clients had trying to get in, and then wondering why there were so many flashing lights at a bank...

Needless to say our Security Director is a former statie who had a talk with them and they agreed to not pull people over in front of our building because of the potential to detract clients or cause an scene. Now they pull them over in the Giant parking lot next door to us. Haha.

[Gerien]

I understand all that.

But why not work to prevent it from happening instead of just waiting until someone gets in their car and drives?

How hard is it to go up to the person and say, "hey buddy, do you have a friend you can call for a ride or perhaps you could call a cab?"

I think cops do have the ability to confront someone who is clearly drunk in public.

That's actually a good idea, but sadly seems to come from a time well before ours.

[Teanos]

Asoc - honestly I think its a case of not wanting to cause a scene. I'm not sure if you are a heavy drinker or not, but most people I know who are a little too intoxicated to drive protest when a friend tells them that. Can you imagine how some of the more violent people will react when confronted by a cop who, I believe, by law is not able to do anything at that point?

Its still not against the law, in most places, to be drunk. Its when you become disordery and/or a threat to those around you that you can be detained and/or charged.

I think they do it because there is little burdon of proof. They got you on dash cam, driving. They perform the sobriety test, and/or breath test and pretty much book you then and there. Your car is towed away, very few lights around the establishment, no abbandoned cars, etc.

Plus, I don't think its up to law enforcement to teach people common sense. If you have a drink, don't drive. If you do, you get what you deserve, thats to be pulled over and tossed into jail for 24 hours, plus the loss of your license.

[asoc]

I was mostly commenting on the commercial:-p

There were police officers everywhere in it just watching this drunk guy stumbling to his car.
At that point you would think numerous police officers would see the drunk person getting into their car.

What is better, stopping the person before they drive drunk? or after?

[DKII]

Classic example of how the role of law enforcement is misunderstood - they're not there to prevent crimes, only to catch and punish those who commit them.