'No Refusal' every day?

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Since Friday, Austin Police have arrested 47 people for driving while intoxicated - 28 of those arrests involved blood draws.

While Austin and Travis County mainly conduct “No Refusal Weekends” during major holiday weekends, the controversial policy of mandatory blood draws recently grew beyond holiday weekends to 365 days a year in San Antonio and Bexar County.

KXAN News wanted to know if this controversial policy would be expanding in the Austin area.

On average about half of the people pulled over in Texas refuse a breath test.

Bexar County [San Antonio] got a $1.4 million grant from the Texas Department of Transportation to make the “no refusal” program mandatory every day of the year.

As more cities and counties are participating and expanding the “no refusal” program, there are vocal opinions on both sides.

Those who support the mandatory blood draws every day of the year say reducing fatalities is the reason behind the program.
"This is just a way to get people off the street before they hurt themselves or someone else. MADD supports that. We support vigorous enforcement of the DWI laws,” said Bill Lewis, legislative director of Mothers Against Drunk Driving in Austin.

Although year round mandatory blood draws are costly and require more resources among local communities - Lewis hopes more cities and counties them will consider it.

"DWI unlike other crimes, the criminal gets to decide whether or not the police get the evidence against them. All this does is put DWI on a level playing field with all the other crimes,” said Lewis.

On the other side of the coin, criminal defense attorney Will Mitchell doesn't want to see the program on holidays and weekends, much less weekdays and all year long.

"It's something that certainly infringes on people's rights and privacies. We're talking about strapping somebody down, taking blood from them for a Class B Misdemeanor,” said Mitchell.

Mitchell says state law already calls for no refusal testing in accidents that involve serious bodily injury or death and for repeat offenders.

He is worried that an expanded no refusal DWI policy, like the one in Bexar County, could eventually be implemented in many other places.

"It's going to be statewide at some point and the question is how much money are taxpayers going to have to pay for a police that's invasive,” said Mitchell.

When asked about Bexar County's expanded no refusal DWI policy, both the Austin Police Department and Travis County Sheriff's Office said it's something they have not researched or even considered.