Our resident albeit retired Police officer fellow OLOer o sung wu always contributes sober views & analyses.
Are many other serving officers of similar caliber ? I have recently had dealings with so-called Police Officers who turned out to be mere coppers. They are so utterly inflexible in both handing out fines & judgement. Like waiting a hundred metres up the road from the Pub & bailing up workers who happen to be .5 or just over whilst the teenage louts are heard screaming & yelling & generally carrying on like rock apes another 100 metres further down the road. Now think a little further for just a moment. If one such driver leaving the Pub happens to be right under the weather & sees the Police car he might just lose his nerve & take off & a high speed chase could ensue, endangering others. Why not stand in the car park & bail up those too inebriated to drive BEFORE they get in the car. By all means hit them with a small fine instead of ruining many others' lives because they'll lose their licence & ability to work. I don't know about your mentality but mine tells me that a scare like a reasonable fine at first would make a bloke think twice next time. A full on severe hit all at once will only make a driver very resentful of the Police just because some moron copper can't think & just wants to impress his seniors by getting as many heavy fines as possible. In my way of thinking these cops cause more long-lasting damage than the drunk driver. A drunk driver being stopped up front will be a sober grateful driver. A drunk driver losing his license & getting a hefty fine will always be an angry & resentful driver & dangerous driver. All because of some moron that has to let his superiors do the thinking back in an air conditioned station.
Whatever happened to warnings at the first mistake ? If it is an offence then yes by all means impose a fine.

I am not surprised by your take on drink driving offences Individual.

At the end of the day, any drunk person driving away from the local pub is just as bad as any 'teenage lout' drink driving and misbehaving down the road.

They are all breaking the law.
And they can all cause accidents that can maim or kill innocent people, as well as themselves.

I hope the police continue to throw the book at ANYONE that drink-drives...

I hope the police continue to throw the book at ANYONE that drink-drives...
Suseonline,
Of course. As I said if an offence is committed then yes go & cop what's deserved. My point was that Police should be there to prevent people from driving drunk & not let them drive so they can book them. An offence is when people still do what they have been warned they should not do. If a Police officer sees an inebriated person get into a car he should stop them right there & read him the riot act. I guarantee that 99% of drivers would not continue. It's the Police officer who knowingly let's them drive. In my book that's entrapment & according to our Law entrapment is in itself an offence.
Don't forget a seasoned beer drinking worker is still sober after 5 drinks whilst your everyday PC brigade member is blotto after two. The word discrimination springs to mind there.

No Individual, ANY bloke who consumes 5 full strength drinks of alcohol in a short time will be over the limit, whether they 'look drunk' or not.

A drunk working class man is just as bad as a drunk 'PC member' ..... whatever that means.

I certainly wouldn't be extolling the virtues of being able to 'hold his drink'.
Those sort of guys are the ones who are more liable to die young from liver failure.

Dear individual,

Part of me has sympathy for the point you are making but in the end I think it is about personal responsibility. Essentially you are attempting to shift the responsibility of the inebriated not to get behind the wheel to the police and I don't think that is either fair or realistic.

I remember being on a road trip about 10 years ago with some mates and we hit a small one pub hamlet in SA. Having done some serious miles we got straight into it, fell in with some locals and ended up having a top night. One bloke became a little belligerent as the evening wore on but it happens to us all on occasion so we just rolled with it. Come stumps he staggered past us and pulled his keys out of his pocket and headed out the door. I was concerned enough to follow him out in time to see him climb into his car and start it up. I remember calling out to him and asking him where he lived. It was about 50 kms up the road. I walked over, reached in turned the engine off and took the keys out.

To cut a long story short it took about an hour before things settled down but not before he got sat on his backside more than once and his threats about hot-wiring his car were dealt with by the promise I would drop into the nearest station to report him if he did.

Cont...

cont...

The next morning I handed him his keys back and he shook my hand, apologising for being an idiot. So why did I do it? Why put myself through an hour of aggravation at 2 in the morning when all I really wanted to do is hit the sack? Well it wasn't out of any concern for him rather it was purely selfish reasons, I did not want to read the next morning that this bloke had wiped out a family driving home. If that had happened and I had foregone the chance to stop it then it would have killed me.

I'm guessing that might be the same thing that would haunt any policeman being asked to let some bloke who is just a bit over the limit to drive away, much more so in fact because most experienced officers have seen their fair share of fatal accidents.

Have I ever in my many years driven when I shouldn't have? Of course, just as most of us probably have, but if I had been caught I hope I would have copped it sweet. Anyone who goes over the limit does it on their own volition. They are adults and ultimately responsible for their actions, end of story.