I am a law enforcement student working on a project and need 3 questions answered by several law enforcement officers. If you would like to help, here are the questions.

1. If a police officer is arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol while off duty, should they be allowed to return to work?


2. If a police officer is arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol what type of action should be taken by the officer's department, if any?


3. Do you feel that the laws for driving under the influence of alcohol (in Michigan .08) are too strict or too lenient?

Hi Paul,

Thanks for your questions. They are good ones that don't necessarily have good or at least absolute answers, but I will take a shot at answering them.

#1. I say it depends. Not a great answer, I know, but I would say that it would depend on more factors like if the Officer hurt someone in a crash, had minors in the car with him, what his level of intoxication or BAC was, if he had been caught drinking and driving before, etc.

Some Deputies here will disagree with me, but I feel if it were the Officers first offense and there were no other aggravating factors the Officer should be able to keep his job. A Police Officer or Deputy is more than just an Officer. They are real people who are husbands and/or fathers, etc. The loss of a job can ruin someones life, and Officers should be given second chances too.

Additionally, every community invests money in their Police Officers and Deputies through training and the experience they get while being paid on duty. Firing a good Officer that deserves a second chance has an adverse affect on the community as well as they have to spend more money training another Officer to take his place.

#2. I think the Officer should be suspended without pay from his job for a certain period of time and be required to go to alcohol abuse counseling by his department.

#3. I think the .08 standard is still a bit too high. It is, of course, better than the old standard of .10, but if you check out the link below it still would take an adult man quite a bit of alcohol to be above that limit.
http://www.ou.edu/oupd/bac.htm

Good luck on your project Paul and thanks for stopping by.

Hi Paul: Thank you for your great question

1-Yes they should return to work as do anyone who has the same trouble until the court states other wise.

2-The Department should take some type of action. This maybe a big problem in the making and may affect his job and duties as a Officer.

3-I have been a police officer for over 30 years, and .08 is not low enough. I have seen a number of people that can not hold their alcohol well under .08 and they should not be driving.

I hope this helps Thankyou again for your questions.

Hi Paul,
This is a very interesting question. If you decide to go on to law enforcement and sit for interviews this is one of there favorite questions to ask. As you know being a police officer you are held to a higher standard and I guess you can say we klive in a glass house. (so dont throw stones) Remember the public and community for witch you work has put a lot of trust in us and we are here to set an example. But on the other hand we are all human. I know our department has a policy about this and we get several weeks time off and assesment program. this is just my 2 cents hope it helps.