Nashville DUI Arrest Quotas Revealed
Phil Williams of Nashville's News Channel Five television station exposed the DUI arrest quotas of the Nashville DUI Enforcement Unit. The Metro Nashville DUI Enforcement Unit is responsible for the DUI unit, as well as the police officers that are assigned to the Governor's Highway Traffic Safety Grant. The grant pays police overtime to work these special DUI shifts. Mr. Williams reported regarding the 2 arrest quota per shift.
Here's an excerpt from the memo:
But News Channel 5 Investigates obtained several recent memos in which a DUI lieutenant warned officers that they could face disciplinary action if they did not start arresting more people.
"Self-motivated officers ... should more often than not be able to arrest 2 DUI offenders each 8.5 hour shift," one memo read.
That's "not a quota," the memo claimed, "but simply a benchmark."
But then it added, "If improvement does not take place, additional corrective action will occur."
On the witness stand, police officers don't admit of a quota for arrests, but this memo indicates a different story. If no arrests are made, a police officer may not be invited back for this lucrative job.
So, the question is: is there any bias of Nashville Police Officers in making an arrest on subjective information like the field sobriety tests? Read the memos and you be the judge.
