Tricks Police Use After You Have Been Arrested For DUI: License Suspension

If you have been arrested for DUI in the state of Georgia, there are several different scenarios you may face regarding your driver’s license. This is so because (contrary to popular belief) policemen are human beings. Not only do they make mistakes, but like all other animals, the police often choose the path of least resistance when doing their job.

When a police officer arrests someone for DUI in Georgia, he / she can confiscate their license under a couple of different circumstances. The most common are 1) If you refused to give a sample of your blood, breath, urine or other bodily substance and / or 2) If you gave a sample and that sample resulted in 08 or more. After confiscating your license, the officer is supposed to provide you with a DDS 1205 form.

Confusion arises when the officer 1) Takes your license, but does not give you a 1205, 2) Does not take your license, but gives you a Form 1205, or 3) Takes your license and gives you a 1205 even though you are not compliant. with none of the criteria to suspend your license.

In each and every situation above, you MUST contact an experienced DUI attorney and receive a 10-day letter sent to the Department of Driver Services as soon as possible.

As mentioned above, police often choose the path of least resistance when doing their job (in other words, they are lazy). Administrative License Suspension (ALS) hearings are always during the day … and sometimes even in the evenings. Law enforcement officers who make the majority of DUI arrests, unsurprisingly, work nights. They, like everyone else, value their dream. Attend an ELA hearing at 1:00 p.m. M. You will seriously reduce your sleep schedule or your free time. They don’t want to prepare for these hearings and they don’t want to attend if they don’t have to. Hence the above “tricks” they will employ to get out of trouble.

In scenario “1” above, if the officer takes your license, but does not provide you with a DDS 1205 form, they could still initiate the license suspension process without your knowledge. If you do not request your ALS hearing, your license will be automatically suspended without him / her having to attend a hearing. The officer will get the benefit of suspending his license without having to do any work. If your license has been confiscated, you should call a reputable DUI law firm as soon as you get out of jail.

In scenario “2” above, where the officer does not take your license, but gives you the DDS 1205 form, this could be sloppy policing. It could also be the officer’s attempt to make you believe that no action is being taken to suspend your license. If you get out of jail with your license in hand, you might lull yourself into a false sense of security, thinking “at least they didn’t take my license.” This is a mistake! If the officer submits DDS Form 1205 for you, you have 10 days to respond or you could face a 1-year suspension. Review the documentation that was given to you when you were discharged. If a DDS 1205 form is among those documents, you should call a DUI defense attorney immediately.

Finally, in scenario “3”, sometimes the police simply do not know the law and / or sometimes they want to see if they can “sneak” into a suspension. Why? Because they can! This generally happens when a driver is arrested for DUI, agrees to blow the Intoxilyzer machine, and yet does not blow an 08 or higher. The driver will still be charged with DUI Less Safe, but these circumstances (generally) do not justify the confiscation of a driver’s license (unless they are a commercial driver or under 21 years of age). If the officer still takes your license and / or gives you a Form 1205, you will face a 1 year suspension if you do not respond to this within 10 days. You should consult with an experienced DUI attorney immediately upon your release from jail.

DUI is not only one of the most serious misdemeanors that can be charged in the state of Georgia, but it is also one of the most complicated. You should not entrust your case to a general practitioner without extensive experience and training in DUI. Also, it is not wise to try to handle these things yourself.