DUI Prevention? Drive Hammered, Get Nailed… Just a Catchy Slogan?

This upcoming labor day weekend in Washington state there’s a DUI prevention campaign entitled, “Drive Hammered, Get Nailed.”  Where the state troopers and other law enforcement agencies step up DUI patrols under the guise of a catchy slogan.

What the slogan should be in Washington is “Drive Hammered, Get Nailed Unless You’re a Cop!”  That’s right… a look back at the last seven years shows that Washington state is notorious for giving cops “professional courtesy” when it comes to DUI offenses.

Let’s see what the statistics show…

63 cases involving police officers in Washington state show that 6 kept their drivers licenses due to paperwork not being filed within a 50 day time period…  which incidentally never happens to average citizens.  In addition only about 1 out of 4 cops who refused a breath test actually lost their drivers license compared to 16 citizens losing their drivers license out of every 17 who refuse a breath test.

In addition 5 out of those 63 cases were thrown out all together and not even prosecuted.  1 police officer, Gurdial Garcha was 6 times over the legal limit… count it… 6 times over the legal limit and only received a 2 day suspension from the dept. and lost 2 vacation days.

While Washington state may have come up with a catchy new slogan “Drive Hammered, Get Nailed” it’s not very accurate if we factor in WA police officers involved in DUI cases.