The police have an unfair advantage in prosecuting most Tennessee DUI cases. The main reason is the police control the narrative during the investigation. A citizen does not question the police during the DUI investigation. Here are just some examples.
- The police control the information in the arrest warrant, the search warrant, and the DUI arrest report. Very few times does a police officer include mitigating facts in their arrest reports. Metro Nashville, Tn. police officers are required to file out a DUI arrest report commonly referred to as a 132 report. Tennessee Highway Patrol officers complete a DUI report. Many law enforcement officers in Middle Tennessee are not required to complete any reports.
- Police officers have more practice operating in front of the camera. Like a Hollywood movie director, the police control the location of the interview, the lighting, location of the accused and everything about the video. The accused does not control anything.
- Police or their supervisors control whether their is even video available. Here is just one example. Metro Nashville Police Department does not equip it’s patrol officers with dash cams or body cams. Now, The Metro Nashville DUI officers are equipped with dash cams. The police can control the capturing of the video footage. Once the blue lights are turned on, the video recaptures so many seconds of the vehicle in motion phase, One thing that is odd is the Cheatham County Sheriff’s office deputies all have dash cams and body cams. I can go down and get a copy in every case. It is a patchwork system of unfairness.
- Listen to officer’s instructions on how to do the standardized field sobriety tests. According to their training material, the instructions are supposed to be performed exactly the same way by every officer. In all the DUI videos I have seen rarely does it happen.
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