Cedar Rapids DUI Lawyer: Few breathalyzer tests July '24

Cedar Rapids DUI law enforcement officers have recorded a surprisingly low number of drunk driving evidentiary breathalyzer tests in the month of July this year. Just 20 such evidentiary breath tests have been recorded by the Iowa Department of Public Safety in Linn County during July this year—less than one a day.

Of those tests, there was just one refusal. There were five incomplete tests and one invalid.

It is notable that the incomplete test results comprise a full twenty percent of all tests. An incomplete test is defined by Intoximeters and the Iowa Department of Public Safety as a status that occurs “if the DataMaster has been allowed to go through the 2-minute breath-sampling period without an adequate sample having been provided.” The operator is asked to define this failure as a refusal with the dialog box, “Did the subject refuse?” If not, it is marked as incomplete. If the officer believes the subject has refused, the test result is marked as a refusal.

There was also one invalid test result so far in July 2024. An invalid test result “refers to a situation in which the Datamaster detected a negative-going slope of alcohol concentration during the delivery of the breath sample,” or, suggests the Iowa Department of Public Safety DMT manual, “[t]his could be a result of the presence of mouth alcohol, multiple starting and stopping by the subject, etc.”

The Datamaster DMTs at the Linn County Correctional Center, technically not "breathalyzers," are now over 14 years old. The Iowa Department of Public Safety first started certifying for use the Datamaster DMT in approximately 2009-2010. The two machines in use at the Linn County Correctional Center of the Officer of the Linn County Sheriff have both been in use since August 2010.

The go-to machine now is serial number 100225—formerly a backup—with serial number 145806 used just three such times.

In Iowa, DUI is actually called Operating While Intoxicated, or, OWI, and does not require driving. It requires mere operation of a motor vehicle, which is defined as “the immediate, actual physical control over a motor vehicle that is in motion and/or has its engine running.”

Last year, during the same period, Cedar Rapids DUI law enforcement had recorded seven more evidentiary breath tests, or, representing a twenty-five percent reduction. In contrast, Iowa City DUI evidentiary breath tests were down by almost half year over year. In 2023, during the same July period, Iowa City DUI law enforcement recorded 89 evidentiary breath tests and 45 during the same period this year.

Prosecutors have become more focused on non-alcoholic substance abuse as successful alcohol public education efforts have reduced the number of low-test, social drinkers on the road. Law enforcement and prosecutors have attempted to increase the number of drunk driving arrests by blending DUI interdiction with THC and other drug detection—with the number of so-called ARIDE (Advanced Roadside Impairment Driving Enforcement) and DRE (Drug Recognition Expertise) trained officers growing every year—even as relatively low THC concentration-products are sold legally in the State of Iowa.