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Hundreds of Bexar DWI cases dismissed because of missing police witnesses

By Gritsforbreakfast

To hear complaints about the "stop snitching" slogans proffered by law enforcement, you'd think there's an epidemic going on of witnesses who don't cooperate with criminal prosecutions.It's true, in a sense, but in San Antonio the witnesses most likely not to show up in court turn out to be police officers, reported WOAI radio (4/29), which recently analyzed missing witnesses in DWI cases. WOAI reporters:pored over hundreds of DWI cases and discovered that 609 cases have been dismissed since 2005 because of a missing witness. Those witnesses in the overwhelming majority of cases were the law enforcement officers who made the arrests.This is an excellent piece of paper trail journalism, and it really makes you wonder what the similar data are on missing police witnesses in other jurisdictions, and for other types of crimes...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on May 03, 2008 (boomark / email).