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Targeting, Quotas, and “Wolf Packs”

Targeting, Quotas, and “Wolf Packs”

Targeting, Quotas, and Wolf Packs

When law enforcement take to the roads searching for people to ticket and arrest, often their patrols are not random. Police use techniques such as targeting, quotas, and “wolf packs” to locate people violating the law (or that they think are violating the law) and beef up arrest rates.

Targeting

Police departments target specific areas or specific people for DUI checks. In particular, most police departments schedule the locations of their sobriety checkpoints based on likely locations to catch drunk drivers. They monitor the dates of local events such as concerts and schedule checkpoints near exits from the concert venue, or they locate shortcuts off the highway that people frequently take and set up checkpoints there. Some states make efforts to target repeat DUI offenders for police enforcement efforts. Officers may pull over repeat offenders on excuses such as minor traffic violations and examine them for signs of intoxication.

Quotas

Most police departments claim they do not enforce quotas, or specific numbers of tickets and arrests that officers must make in a given period. However, rank and file law enforcement members usually say otherwise. “Numbers-based policing” is very popular in some departments, in part because it makes performance easier to measure. But many think that quotas actually prevent police officers from adequately doing their jobs, changing their focus from stopping crime to issuing more tickets and making more arrests. Oklahoma’s legislature passed a ban on using police quotas in officer evaluations in 2014, but the governor did not sign the bill.

Wolf Packs

Most people have never heard of the term “wolf pack” related to law enforcement patrols. In Florida, police frequently participate in “wolf packs”, or large groups of law enforcement from a regional area hitting the roads at the same time to find DUI drivers. In other states police call this “saturation patrol” or similar. The wolf pack will target a specific area or areas and arrive in force, only to all leave at once and move to another area like a real wolf pack. Wolf pack and saturation patrol tactics are designed to locate as many DUI drivers as possible and get them off the road. Like for the tactics above, police in a wolf pack may become overzealous in arresting suspected drunk drivers.

If you need representation in an Oklahoma court for a DUI charge, seek out the attorney who teaches other attorneys and law enforcement about sobriety testing techniques. Clint Patterson, Esq., of Patterson Law Firm, a former Tulsa prosecutor now using his trial experience and expert-level knowledge of DUI science to defend drivers, may be able to challenge gas chromatography testing for you. To schedule a case evaluation, visit Patterson Law Firm online or call Clint’s office at (918) 550-9175.