Houston Intoxilyzer Scandal- Who Cares About DWI Suspects?

Texas has repealed most constitutional protections for DWI suspects. Texas also indoctrinates law enforcement and breath test “experts” with blood on the highway DWI propaganda.

The system forces DWI suspects to take the State’s breath/blood/field sobriety tests, and the State’s witnesses are taught that they must arrest more and convict more or people will die. Is anyone surprised when a DWI lab “expert” starts faking test results? After all, who cares about drunk drivers?

From the Dallas Morning News

Texas DPS says inspector faked records, jeopardizing 2,600 DWI cases
04:34 PM CDT on Friday, October 24, 2008
By EMILY RAMSHAW / The Dallas Morning News
eramshaw@dallasnews.com
AUSTIN – At least 2,600 Houston-area DWI arrests are now in question, after a Department of Public Safety contractor failed to inspect breath analysis equipment – and faked records to show that she had.

Breath test instruments must be checked and calibrated once a month to ensure accuracy. DPS officials believe the contractor, whom they haven’t identified, may have been falsifying inspection records for up to a year at eight Houston-area police departments.

She was not working in other parts of the state.

“Once DPS found reason to believe that these records had been altered, we suspended the supervisor’s certification and opened up a criminal investigation,”said Col. Stan Clark, interim DPS director.

“These are serious allegations and we will not tolerate any activities that call into question the integrity of the breath test system”

This is why we need constitutional protections for all suspects, even alleged DWI drivers. You should have the right to an attorney before you take a breath test. After all, the State’s intoxilyzer expert doesn’t care if you get convicted with false evidence. The police certainly don’t care if the breath test machine works or not. In Texas, we teach DWI officers NOT to learn how the breath machine works.

When we convict the innocent with phony evidence, we impugn the integrity of the criminal justice system. After all, why follow the law when the State will convict the innocent with phony evidence?