By JIM HARDIN
CNHI
Rockwall County —
Criminal District Attorney Kenda Culpepper, joined by law enforcement officials from throughout Rockwall County, formally announced plans this week for the second annual Labor Day No Refusal Weekend.
During a news conference on the steps of the Rockwall County Historic Courthouse, Culpepper said the program will be in force from 12:01 a.m. Friday, Sept. 3, until noon Tuesday, Sept. 7.
Culpepper expressed her excitement about the second-year No Refusal Weekend, then provided a recap of the program.
“When a police officer has probable cause to believe that a person is driving while intoxicated, the suspect is asked to take a breath or blood test,” Culpepper said. “In the past, if they refused that test, we had to go to trial without scientific evidence to show that they were over the legal limit.
“Now, the law allows us to get an evidentiary warrant to draw the person’s blood if they refuse so that it can be scientifically tested and used as evidence in trial.”
Culpepper said her office has been coordinating efforts on a number of fronts.
Law enforcement agencies head the list. Agencies that will participate are Heath Department of Public Safety, Rockwall Police Department, Rockwall County Sheriff’s Office, Rockwall County constables, Rowlett Police Department, Royse City Police Department, Texas Department of Public Safety, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the Wylie Police Department.
Culpepper said the district attorney’s office is buying 50 blood-draw kits from the DPS and will distribute them to participating agencies for their use during the program.
Lake Pointe Medical Center and Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Rockwall have agreed to provide trained phlebotomists to draw blood at the hospital throughout the weekend.
Four judges have agreed to work in shifts to review and consider approval of the blood-draw warrants.
The participating judges are County Court at Law Judge David Rakow; Rockwall Municipal Judge Cathy Penn, Royse City Municipal Judge Paul Liston and McLendon-Chisholm Municipal Judge Andrew Leonie.
The Rockwall County Commissioners Court has agreed to reimburse the cities for the judges’ overtime costs. During their meeting Tuesday, commissioners approved interlocal agreements with the cities of Rockwall, McLendon-Chisholm and Royse City for services the judges will perform during the Labor Day Weekend, The cost will be a maximum of $2,500.
Rakow and the district attorney’s prosecutors have agreed to work without overtime compensation.
The district attorney’s office will provide training for law enforcement officers and supervisors regarding the blood-draw warrants and procedures.
“It is important to remember that an officer will seek a warrant only after he has already developed probably cause to arrest the individual,” Culpepper said. “Officers will continue to offer suspects the opportunity to consent to the test. The program does not add an additional time in detention. It just allows us to strengthen the evidence we can take to trial.”
Culpepper said she was pleased with the results of last year’s program.
“We spent a lot of time talking about the event and felt like the community heard the message,” she said. “Law enforcement really focused on DWI investigations during the Labor Day Weekend, and we still had fewer DWI arrests than in many years in the past.”
In addition, Culpepper said, the refusal rate went from 100 percent during the Labor Day weekend of 2008 to only 36 percent of people refusing the test in 2009, which reduced the number of warrants that had to be issued.
“I truly believe that if we can continue to get the message out about the No Refusal Weekend, it will deter people from driving while intoxicated and/or encourage them to have a designated driver,” Culpepper said. “It is important that the community knows how serious Rockwall County is about keeping intoxicated people off our streets and waterways.”
