The Five Don'ts

In many cases a citizen is awakened in the middle of the night by a knock on the door. A police officer stands there and tells you that so-and-so saw you driving earlier and you seemed impaired.

You do not have to open the door. The officer cannot enter your home without a search warrant unless you consent to his entry. Don’t do it.

Insist on your right to remain silent. However, providing your name and address is recommended, as is giving your driver’s license if you’re stopped in a car.

You do not have to admit you were drinking or tell the officer how much you drank.
You have heard it a thousand times. "Anything you say can and will be used against you." And no matter what you say, the officer (and later, the prosecutor) will be able to find a way to use it against you.

Even if you are drinking sober, it is unlikely you will help yourself by answering questions.

Resist the natural urge to help the officer build a case against you.

You do not have to do any of these roadside exercises. Most of them have nothing whatsoever to do with your level of intoxication or your BAC. Most of them are designed to make you look bad in front of a jury, and they will.

The tests score you on things you aren’t told will be scored and insist you do other things that aren’t scored. You will not get a chance to practice, and if you do, you will be penalized.

Even the three tests that have scientific validity are wrong up to 35% of the time, and that’s assuming the officers administered them properly.

The ability of police officers properly to administer the three standardized field sobriety tests varies significantly from agency to agency and within agencies.

Even with a good DUI attorney who knows how to cross-examine on the SFSTs, the jury will hear the opinion of the nice officer who protects their safety that you “failed” the tests.

You do not have to give the officer a breath sample in any preliminary machine. Usually the officer will tell you something like “If you blow in here and you pass, I will let you go.”

These PBTs or PAS machines are portable, handheld devices of questionable reliability. They are not regulated by California’s Title 17 rules, so there is no telling how accurate any one of them may be.

NOTE: California’s implied consent laws do require you to take an evidential test (either blood, breath or urine). Santa Barbara police agencies are now using an evidential breath testing machine called an EPAS that is portable and looks like a preliminary test machine. DON’T BE FOOLED. If you refuse to take an evidential test, DMV will take automatic action against your license, and your sentence will be increased if you are convicted of DUI.

If you decide you will take the test required by the implied consent laws, ask for a urine test. When the officer tells you it is not available (which usually happens), ask to take an evidential breath test. DO NOT AGREE to take any preliminary breath test.

Police can eavesdrop on any conversation you have except one with your attorney. If you make a phone call to a friend or spouse, you have to assume the police are listening.

That other guy in the jail who was arrested for DUI may well be a snitch or an undercover officer. Don't fall for it.