Posted on 08/02/2008 7:09:09 PM PDT by hole_n_one
VAN NUYS - On a recent stakeout, LAPD Officers David Hopkins and Steve Johnson slink down low in their unmarked car, ready to bust the type of criminal known to kill 16,000 people every year.
Ordered by a judge not to drive, the man under their surveillance pulls up to his house, driving his father's car. Alcohol hangs on his breath.
Eric Bernardo Davila is no murderer, rapist or terrorist. But with his growing arrest record, he's almost as dangerous.
He's a habitual drunk driver - three DUIs and just 31 years old. And he's one of thousands of chronic drunk motorists on probation or parole that are being watched by the special undercover team with the Los Angeles Police Department's Valley Traffic Division.
"He probably regularly drives drunk," Hopkins said as he filed paperwork on Davila's arrest that day.
Davila represents one of at least 2,000 San Fernando Valley residents who have multiple DUI convictions and suspended driver licenses but continue to drive, police said.
And it's a statistic that likely played a role in a 56 percent increase in DUI-related collisions last year in North Hollywood alone.
"This does wake up about half of them. They know someone is watching," said Officer Doug Gerst, who in 2004 got the idea for the special undercover team after arresting a man with a blood-alcohol level twice the legal limit of 0.08.
Three days later, Gerst arrested the same man on suspicion of drunk driving and driving with a suspended license.
"He accused me of following him," Gerst said. "I told him, `No, I'm not. But I should be."'
Curious, Gerst and other officers then researched just how many Van Nuys residents alone had at least two drunk driving convictions. The answer: 750.
Soon after, the Valley Traffic team of six hit the streets. Since then, the team known as H20 - an acronym for Habitual Deuce Offender program - has arrested 351 chronic drunk drivers who have defied judges' orders to stay off the road.
Three more divisions within the LAPD have since replicated the original drunk drivers surveillance unit. Wearing LAPD uniforms, they sit in unmarked cars - waiting and watching.
Landing on the Valley unit's radar requires at least two DUI convictions and suspended driver licenses. Motorists are all on probation or parole. More than 50 percent of those on their watch also happen to have at least one felony conviction.
Flipping through a plastic binder of about 20 Valley residents his team is watching this month, Gerst pointed to their photos:
That man spent seven years in prison for rape and has two DUI arrests.
That guy pleaded guilty to a fourth DUI last week and got probation.
He is a convicted child molester and kidnapper and on parole for his fourth DUI.
Another, Gary Anthony Brooks, 56, of Van Nuys - with eight DUIs, nine felony convictions and 49 aliases - was arrested by the Valley team in June for violating probation.
"We're telling the judge, `This person is evil,' Gerst said about chronic drunk drivers. "`He's going to kill somebody."'
About 8 percent of all deadly alcohol-related car crashes in California occur with repeat drunk drivers behind the wheel, according to a 2000 report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
For some repeat drunk drivers, probation stretches for a year. Though many are ordered not to drive or drink, no one from court is keeping close watch.
Many have no probation officers checking in on them at all and only report to a judge every few weeks.
That's where the Valley Traffic crew steps in, said Richard A. Schmidt, an assistant city attorney.
"The unit acts as a probation officer for the worst of these offenders," he said.
When repeat drunk drivers are nabbed for violating that probation, the unit pushes for the full sentence of 180 days in county jail and has a 100 percent conviction rate, Schmidt said.
In comparison, most first-time DUI offenders spend up to 10 days in county jail for violating probation.
Still, this undercover act doesn't always stay covert.
Some attorneys alert their clients to the team - even pointing to Valley Traffic officers sitting in court.
"We were in court one time and this attorney said, `There are officers monitoring you, and if I'm not mistaken there are two of them,"' said Michael Harrington, the sergeant supervising the five Valley officers on the surveillance team.
To help convicted drunk drivers get on the right path, judges order them into treatment programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous that are paid to take them in, Harrington said.
Many convicted once of drunk driving learn their lessons quickly and never get behind the wheel after drinking again.
But others, like the ones under surveillance, resist help and sometimes even show up smashed to treatment, Harrington said.
"It's not surprising," said Steve Moore, a Calabasas-based marriage and family therapist. "In order for AA to work, you have to want to go. It's unfortunate that no one can make you stop drinking."
Moore said chronic alcoholics are one of the toughest populations to deal with if their cycle of drinking is not broken. Even when the addiction is stopped, relapse rates are high.
Some addicts guzzle bottles of booze for decades despite doing gritty jail time before reaching their breaking points, said Cary Quashen, addiction specialist and founder of Action Family Counseling, based in Saugus.
Quashen said it's important that the courts and police are holding chronic drunk drivers accountable for their actions and putting them behind bars.
"It takes what it takes for someone to hit their rock bottom," said Quashen. "LAPD keeps locking them up and throwing the book at them, and eventually they'll get tired of hitting their heads."
Many followed by this LAPD team appear years away from being ready to put down the bottle.
Gerst recalled one case in which a man with multiple DUIs was in court for a progress report on his probation. He forgot his treatment papers at home, so the judge told him to get them and return.
Wearing his police uniform, Gerst followed the man to his car parked two blocks away. The man, who had been ordered not to drive, hopped behind the wheel and drove off. Gerst pulled him over.
With a blood-alcohol level three times the legal limit, the man was arrested for another DUI.
In another case, a man recently out of prison and at his first parole orientation meeting had told officials he rode the bus there because he was ordered not to drive.
Gerst and Harrington later followed him out of court and watched him stroll four blocks to his parked car, where he cracked open a 40-ounce beer. He was arrested and went straight back to prison.
One recently arrested man has 12 DUI convictions, with a 13th now pending. First arrested for drunk driving in July 1974, he's had seven arrests for driving on a suspended license. Now he's in custody with $200,000 bail, Gerst said.
"We find out where they live and where they work," Gerst said. "Many have done jail time and have moved afterward and are hard to find."
A tiny percentage of families will call the team directly and report loved ones with drinking problems who completely refuse to stop driving.
One man repeatedly piled his children in the car and drove after drinking. His relatives eventually called police for help, Harrington said.
"Usually the family protects them and enables them," said Harrington.
"What a destructive life. And it's not just his life. It's everyone he touches."
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Why? Because habitual drunks continuing to drive on a suspended license was new last year?
If they are so dangerous they need to have secret police following them around perhaps they should be in jail already. Why not put them in jail after say the 2nd or 3rd one?
But that kinda negates all that romanticism about secret police watching ya.
It’s California.
In Texas, the third offense is a state jail felony. No more firearms, no more vote.
If California felonized 3rd offense DUI, it might end up being a red state, and they can’t have that, so....
With the younger generation so enamored with tattoos, perhaps it’s time to bring back the scarlet letter. If you get convicted of a felony and have tattoos, you earn a tat on the forehead describing your felony.
Because illegals are very likely to drive drunk with their fake identity, and they are getting drivers licenses.
Ok, I admit it: my first thought when I read the headline, involved wooden stakes, leather straps, a hot sun, and ants...
Yeah. I’m confused here. Calif. had a 3 strikes and you’re in for DUI’s, what happened to that?
One of my Brothers did 18 months in Tehachapi prison for 3 DUI’s in 7 years. It worked. He hasn’t had a drop since.
This a program that I can back. It’s a good use of police funds, unlike parking a car in a known bad area, with the windows down, and the keys in the ignition.
That one really rubs me raw.
1. AA is not a treatment program.
2. AA has no dues or fees. We are self supporting through our own contributions.
Alcoholics Anonymous is no longer anonymous when people are sentenced to it. The court is using a private gathering illegally.
This is an excellent use of police resources: focusing on obvious career criminals.
Arresting and punishing drunk drivers and drug possessors seems to be a very lucrative enterprise for many municipalities. Fines, probation visits, alcohol/drug awareness classes, DUI driving school...go to your local court or check out the police blotter of your local paper.
Tough to collect fines when the guy's in jail. heck when he's in jail he's costing the county money.
“Tough to collect fines when the guy’s in jail. heck when he’s in jail he’s costing the county money.”
I thought the point of jail was to 1) punish the person for the illegal act, and 2) keep society safe from those people shown to be dangerous.
Fines should be about penalizing the criminal and not making the city a few bucks. If someone is a danger to society they should not be running around without leg irons.
It sounds like a great program. Now just promise us that they will deport every illegal that is caught driving drunk with or without a license.
If you read the papers in SoCal..a very high proportion of the drunk drivers are illegal and they can be deported on first offense..gone.
Actually, if you had a cop outside the court room..most people who get suspended drive away in their own car.
To help convicted drunk drivers get on the right path, judges order them into treatment programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous that are paid to take them in, Harrington said.
Somebody got their story very wrong or they do things differently in other areas from what I have ever seen.
I swear I haven't been drinking but I must have written that. I meant to say, "I have been in AA for a whole bunch of years and have never heard of AA taking money for allowing people to come to meetings.
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