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?Dial-a-Drunk?: How to Get Back at That Guy Tailgating You

By Lawrence Taylor

It has become an increasingly common practice for police to receive anonymous phone calls about 'drunk drivers' on the road. These 'tips' are typically relayed by the police dispatcher to an officer in the field as a call to investigate a 'suspected drunk driver'; the officer is rarely told that the basis of the information is an anonymous caller with no corroboration or reliability. The officer then pulls the car over, fully expecting to encounter an intoxicated person behind the wheel. And, as the psychologists tell us, we tend to see what we expect to see. With the backing of MADD, this is being actively encouraged in most states now, featuring media campaigns and roadside billboards encouraging citizens to call an emergency phone number to report anyone who appears to be driving in a suspicious manner — what cops and lawyers call "dial-a-drunk"...continue to full post

Full post as published by DUI Blog on March 29, 2010 (boomark / email).