First, I'm NOT a "cop hater"... the experiences I've had with any officers has been absolutely GREAT, including one State Trooper in Kansas going above and beyond helping me with a car breakdown.

But it appears that the Aurora officers kinda swept stuff under the rug in this case.

The DA for Arapahoe/Douglas Counties is a hard core Republican, I like him a lot.

Here's the video stories:
DA says he can't prosecute Aurora officer found passed out drunk over lack of admissible evidence - ABC 7 Denver

George Brauchler Can’t File DUI Charges Against Aurora Police Officer Nathan Meier - CBS 4 Denver

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DA is asked "Do you think Officer Meyer received preferential treatment?" and his response is "I think what happened with Officer Meyer was the product of him being an Aurora police officer"

5 Aurora officers with body cams but only 16 mins of footage based on officers turning off cams. Bottle found on scene, but never sent for testing. Blood test was never officially ordered. Classified as a medical issue at the scene.

DA continues: "If you're a hater out there and you don't think these men and women can police themselves, this is exhibit 1".
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Very sad...

James in Denver

That's sad. One day he will be in a place where they won't cover up a criminal act. I just hope he doesn't kill someone when he does this again.

One shouldn't have to preface a statement or article about bad cops with "I'm not a cop basher", and then go into detail about how they love cops, and they've always had good experiences with the police.

Shitty cops are shitty.

Is this what Police corruption looks like ? Would a civilian be given the same treatment?

quote:

Originally posted by keltoi:
Is this what Police corruption looks like ? Would a civilian be given the same treatment?

Possibly, and probably.

Two general examples.

#1, I can't tell you how many DWIs arrests don't happen daily because we don't have the resources (DWI trained officers, intoxilizer certified officers, Drug Recognition Expert certified officers, etc.). Super Bowl Sunday, not a DWI officer working in my agency. Unbelievable. (Although when one drunk took off on me, in an already-totaled car, we caught her and seized her broke-assed car).

#2, I also can't tell you how many times the district attorney's office just drops a case with absolutely no explanation, or how many times a liberal judge dismisses a case for some complete bullshit. And when they do convict, it's a slap on the wrist.

So is it police corruption? Maybe. More likely incompetence (on the department's part or the DA's office's part). Would a civilian be given the same treatment? Frankly, I'd expect a cop to get hammered harder than a "civilian".

No question, at my agency he would have been charged and fired. That DWI unit that is never working when you need them would actually be called in for it *rolleyes*. Any attempt at a cover up would result in suspensions or firings.

And the blood from the hospital could be used in my state with a subpoena or warrant. Not sure why it's different in Colorado.


And the DA is posturing and full of shit. He could charge the officer, just needs probable cause. "Proof beyond a reasonable doubt" is what is required to convict. Subpoena the medics, the medical records, the officers that were on scene, have a trial, and let the jury or judge decide. You don't have to have a magical blood alcohol number to win a DWI case. Oh wait...that would require more effort than doing some news interviews.

quote:

And the DA is posturing and full of shit

^^^^^
Grandstanding. My thought is that he has political ambitions.

Bad cops are exactly that, bad cops. And they exist. I have personally arrested a fellow worker when he was found to be asleep at the wheel while straddling a rail road line....he was tested by a trooper to show that we were not trying to protect him. He was a shitty officer from day one, we all knew it, but it took a very obvious incident to get rid of him (minority hire).

WRT the OPs incident, that guy needs to not be a cop. And anyone who tried to protect him should be fired too.

quote:

#1, I can't tell you how many DWIs arrests don't happen daily because we don't have the resources (DWI trained officers, intoxilizer certified officers, Drug Recognition Expert certified officers, etc.). Super Bowl Sunday, not a DWI officer working in my agency. Unbelievable.

Well this baffles me. Our entire department is DUI and intoxilizer trained every last one. All are required to recert yearly no matter your position. You’re sworn you recert. Even my 6 years off patrol in plain clothes still had to recert.

There are plenty of non police that aren’t given the DUI they should have everyday.
Not saying he should have gotten off but it is not like all DUIs are charged. Quite frequently they are not.

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:

quote:

#1, I can't tell you how many DWIs arrests don't happen daily because we don't have the resources (DWI trained officers, intoxilizer certified officers, Drug Recognition Expert certified officers, etc.). Super Bowl Sunday, not a DWI officer working in my agency. Unbelievable.

Well this baffles me. Our entire department is DUI and intoxilizer trained every last one. All are required to recert yearly no matter your position. You’re sworn you recert. Even my 6 years off patrol in plain clothes still had to recert.

There are plenty of non police that aren’t given the DUI they should have everyday.

What state? In N.C. the SFST class is 40 hours. That’s probably the same, I think it’s a national program. Intox is a 2 week school. I’ve got 20 officers and zero have intox. Maybe 2 or 3 have SFST. Usually we have 100+ officers working city wide at night and maybe 5 are intox certified.

It’s common for us to have to just do a search warrant for a blood draw if it’s a case bad enough for me to order an arrest, which is a whole nother circus.

DWIs are a huge pain in the ass in my state. Few officers are motivated to get the training to deal with them at my department. Plus it’s three weeks of extra training to really get where you’re able to handle them independently. And if they are serious and want to be able to successfully do drug DWIs it’s another few weeks for that rare certification. And getting training like all that can be difficult when staffing sucks.

Black, I was a cop in N.C., and Chongo is right....I worked for a dept with 120 officers- which means eight to ten guys working a shift and the rest are desk jockies or detectives or some other equally non useful people( as far as actual crime crushing)
Me and one other guy on my shift were committed to prosecute DWIs...
It was such that if one of us got transferred the powers that be would actually review the number of guys who could run a intox test before moving us.

I ran a intox test at least once a day or more on night for my dept and several small towns in our county and for the sheriff....

Getting certified to run the test was. A huge PITA and was hard to recert because they never would give us time off from the shift to do it.

Mine expired once while I was deployed and when I got back the first thing they had me do was drive across the state to re-cert.

Side note--a BAC of 0.43 is damn impressive. No wonder he was passed out. That's "dead" for most people.

Only plausible scenario is he was a raging alcoholic. Which means someone had to know.

Here in KY everyone in the state goes through the DUI and intoxilizer course during the Academy. My department requires us to recert yearly, not all departments do but most of them do. If you let yours expire you will be retaking the whole 40 hour course again no matter what. You’ll also get a nice little write up for missing. For the most part no difference in what position you have with the department (though I’d go to wager that a number of the top brass are no longer certified).
Here in KY the state allows for your certification to go pending while on military leave so it won’t lapse but at our department your recert will be one of the first things you do when you return.
DUIs are a gigantic pain here as well. If we could opt out of certifying, not going to lie, I’d be that guy. There are plenty of other things at work I actually enjoy doing and would prefer to spend my time focusing on.
I do enjoy when we have recruits on FTO just check them and they come and take it. We of course have our guys that are the DUI masters be in alcohol or other intoxicants and they’ll get pulled from wherever even being off if there is a serious collision or other reason we want the best out there.
DUIs really aren’t hard they are just super time consuming and used to almost always be taken as far as possible in court. The body cameras have cut down on that a lot because video shows how bad they are.

quote:

Originally posted by chongosuerte:

What state? In N.C. the SFST class is 40 hours. That’s probably the same, I think it’s a national program. Intox is a 2 week school. I’ve got 20 officers and zero have intox. Maybe 2 or 3 have SFST. Usually we have 100+ officers working city wide at night and maybe 5 are intox certified.

It’s common for us to have to just do a search warrant for a blood draw if it’s a case bad enough for me to order an arrest, which is a whole nother circus.

DWIs are a huge pain in the ass in my state. Few officers are motivated to get the training to deal with them at my department. Plus it’s three weeks of extra training to really get where you’re able to handle them independently. And if they are serious and want to be able to successfully do drug DWIs it’s another few weeks for that rare certification. And getting training like all that can be difficult when staffing sucks.

What a pain in the ass. I think if you total up the hours for all of the SFST modules, it's closer to 24 hours. I haven't done a full certification class in years, but have been an instructor since 2007. Two weeks to administer a freaking breath test? I think we have a two hour block and recert via online training every five years. Hell, the classroom portion of DRE school only takes seven days (plus the two day preschool).