UPDATE: Bolstering the point made below an Albany City Police Sergeant was recently suspended for advising an acquaintance at the scene of a DWI investigation to refuse to take a sobriety test or submit to an alcohol sensor test.
A local family court judge was recently censured by the Committee on Judicial Conduct for his behavior in connection with an arrest for DWI. The judge pled guilty to a a reduced non-criminal charge of DWAI. Also, an off duty Albany police officer was recently arrested for DWI after police found his vehicle stopped on the side of the highway. What is notable about these cases is not the fact that a judge and cop were arrested for DWI (it happens all the time), but that they both refused to cooperate to one degree or another, and both tried to evade the police. The judge, made a u-turn upon seeing a roadblock ahead and the cop tried to simply drive away.
It is ironic that those responsible for enforcing laws are often the most vigorous resisters when the tables are turned. Do they know something the public does not? Of course they do. They know what happens in court, how cases are prosecuted, and what evidence can be used against them. They also know that when a cop tells a suspect that cooperation will result in leniency, it is a coercive lie intended to extract self-incrimininating evidence. From the perspective of law enforcement, cooperative suspects make prosecutions easier.
I tell people that if they are stopped after drinking, do not admit having consumed any alcohol to the police. However, this advice does not come without a bit of moral soul searching. Is it wrong to lie to the police? If you think so then ask yourself "Is it wrong for the police to lie to you"?
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