Brickbat: This Blows

Hawaii News Now (HNN), a news service operated by a consortium of TV stations, reports that in 2022 and 2023, Oahu police arrested almost 300 people for driving under the influence who had breathalyzer scores below the legal limit of 0.08, 69 of them with scores of 0.00. “When I was a policeman, I never had anybody blow triple zeros,” said Jonathan Burge, a defense attorney specializing in traffic cases and former Honolulu Police Department (HPD) officer. Burge claims there are unofficial quotas for officers, particularly for those working DUI task forces funded by federal dollars. Deputy HPD Chief Keith Horikawa, in a statement to HNN, said “supervisors may have goals and standards that are pertinent to their unit to help guide the personnel under their command.” HNN reports that even when charges are dropped, the arrest remains on the records of adult drivers unless they pay to have it expunged. Last year, the Honolulu Prosecutor’s Office rejected more than 80 percent of the DUI cases referred by HPD.

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