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Why don’t the police wait outside the bar?

On Behalf of | Mar 16, 2022 | DUI charges

The police certainly know that a lot of people who are leaving the bar have been consuming alcohol. If they’re trying to give out DUIs, this may make it seem as if they should just wait outside of the bar and pull people over.

And, while you may have seen the police outside of the bar on occasion, you likely know that this is not a common practice. It’s not as if the police officers are waiting across the street and pulling everyone over. But why not?

There’s an important order of operations

The reason that the police don’t do this is because the order in which they take action has to be followed precisely or it may not be a legal arrest.

First, they need to see a reason to pull over the car. Once they’ve done that legally, they also need a reason to believe that the person is impaired.

They don’t have either of those if they’re just waiting outside of the bar. Seeing someone exit a bar or a restaurant and get in their car is not reason to pull them over or assume that they are impaired. The police would have to wait for them to make a mistake.

Now, there may be drivers who would make a mistake immediately, such as running a stop sign on the way out of the parking lot, but this simply doesn’t happen enough to be worth the time. Instead, the police will watch active drivers on the road to make sure that they have a reason to make the traffic stop before they do so.

Understanding your options

If you are facing DUI charges, no matter how you got them, it’s very important to understand your criminal defense options. This is especially true if you believe the police did not have reason to pull you over or suspect that you are impaired.