FORT WORTH — If you insist on drinking and driving this holiday weekend, be prepared to roll up your sleeve. At least 21 Tarrant County law enforcement agencies are participating in a Fourth of July "No Refusal" program that will allow authorities to draw blood from suspected drunken drivers who refuse Breathalyzer tests.
"We have a DWI epidemic in this state, and Tarrant County is no exception," prosecutor Richard Alpert said Wednesday at a news conference, where he was flanked by men in blue from the 21 departments. "Our office prosecutes at least 6,000 DWI cases a year, and we are constantly looking for new ways and new legal efforts to aid our law enforcement."
Although the Fort Worth and Dalworthington Gardens police departments now routinely obtain search warrants and draw blood from suspected drunken drivers who refuse Breathalyzer tests, this is the first time that so many of Tarrant County’s law enforcement agencies have joined to curtail drunken driving.
"And it is not just Tarrant County," Alpert said. "We have agencies all over the state. Every surrounding county — Collin County, Dallas County, Denton County — are involved in the same program we are doing. Across the state, from Galveston to El Paso, there are agencies and district attorneys’ offices who are using search warrants to draw blood in DWI cases."
Alpert said some agencies will begin their campaigns today, while others will begin over the holiday weekend. The agencies will share resources to ensure that enough officers are on duty to make arrests, judges to sign the search warrants and medically trained personnel to draw blood.
For example, Sansom Park police will have a mobile unit in a parking lot along Jacksboro Highway, where blood will be drawn and a judge will sign warrants.
Alpert added that Watauga police found additional paramedics to help draw blood and that in cities such as Kennedale and Azle fire department paramedics will help draw blood.
Alpert said he hopes that the program will act as a deterrent, persuading people not to drink and drive because they know officers will conduct sobriety tests with or without drivers’ consent.
"We will have that evidence," Alpert said. "We will get it and use it against them. 34;.34;.34;. People need to understand that they can enjoy the Fourth of July weekend and they can survive it. For those that don’t get our message, they need to understand that they will be found and held accountable."
No refusal
How the campaign will work:
If you are stopped and suspected of driving while intoxicated, most police officers will ask you to consent to a Breathalyzer test.
Dalworthington Gardens, however, has an "all blood all the time" protocol, meaning that officers will either ask you to voluntarily consent to have blood drawn or get a search warrant.
If a suspect refuses to take a breath test or give blood, the officer will seek a search warrant from a magistrate or judge to allow blood to be drawn.
Trained medical professionals will then draw the suspect’s blood.
The blood will be tested to determine the suspect’s blood-alcohol concentration. In Texas, it is illegal for drivers to have a blood-alcohol level above 0.08.
Participating agencies The agencies participating in the program include police departments in Azle, Arlington, Bedford, Burleson, Dalworthington Gardens, Euless, Fort Worth, Grand Prairie, Grapevine, Hurst, Kennedale, Mansfield, North Richland Hills, Saginaw, Sansom Park, Watauga, Westover Hills and Westworth Village, the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Department, and Department of Public Safety officers from Southlake and Dallas/Fort Worth Airport.