MUST HAVE BLOOD!
Newly elected Harris County District Attorney Mike Anderson recently announced his plan to make "no refusal" weekends a year round policy. This means that any driver that refuses a breathalyzer test regardless of the reason will be forced by a police officer and a judge to have their blood seized and tested. This is an outrageous abuse of our 4th amendment rights and far and above what is necessary to prosecute drunk drivers. Police already have video evidence, field sobriety tests and eye witness statements to help prosecute offenders without forcing those who object to a potentially faulty breathalyzer test from being forced to have a needle injected into them and their blood taken at the point of a gun.
This new program could waste millions of tax payer dollars. "Rubber Stamp" judges will be employed 24/7 to issue a warrant for anyone's blood that dares to assert their constitutional rights. HPD police union president Ray Hunt is on record saying this could as much as triple the amount of time a police officer spends on one suspected drunk driving stop taking up nearly their entire shift. That means fewer police officers on the streets able to respond to emergencies, thefts and assaults while they babysit a suspect waiting to get their blood forcibly drawn against their will. Plus, who knows what Mike Anderson will do with your blood once he has it. Several states are keeping DNA records of everyone they arrest without conviction, will Mike Anderson start a DNA file for everyone that refuses to submit? We urge Mike Anderson to reverse this misguided unconstitutional effort to make himself look tough on crime. Contact information for Mike Anderson's office is below.
Mike Anderson Harris County District Attorney
713-755-5800
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