Taking the DUI Target Off Your Back

There is a piece of advice the criminal defense attorneys, from our office, give to each of our Utah clients after they have been charged with a DUI, or a drug-related offense. But first, let me give you a quick note on what makes you a target to law enforcement.

Once a DUI or drug charge is established on your record, conviction or not, you have become a “marked man” so to speak. Count on being harassed every time a cop runs the license plate of a car registered to you. Police officers run plates routinely before they initiate traffic stops, particularly when traffic is not so congested. If your record is marked by a DUI or a drug offense, then the officer may find a petty reason to pull you over. The cop is “playing the odds” in the hopes that he/she will catch you in another DUI or perhaps they will even find drugs in your vehicle. Sometimes, as citizens, we want to yell, “Hey that’s not fair” but the reality is that it works many times. In fact, it works enough times that officers continue to do it on a regular basis.

There is one sure way to mitigate the risk of such harassment by law enforcement, and this is the advice we give our clients:

Drive vehicles that are registered to a person with an unblemished criminal background. It is not illegal to do so, and by following this advice you reduce the risk of being pulled over by a cop for driving violations which you would not be pulled over for otherwise. Now, understand that I’m not advocating that anyone drive while under the influence. Drunk driving is not acceptable under any circumstances. What I am supplying here is a technique that will decrease your legal “run-ins” with cops who are looking for any excuse to “police” their assigned areas.

So keep it in perspective and of course…be safe, be smart andcall us when you need us!

Rhome Zabriskie