Local police said a recent district court ruling making it illegal for police officers to issue a Breathalyzer test to minors without a search warrant will not affect their current practices.
As the law stood prior to the ruling Wednesday, police had the authority to force minors to take a Breathalyzer test — and those who refused could be issued a civil infraction and a fine of up to $100.
Now, police are only authorized to force people to submit to a breath test when operating a vehicle or in an emergency situation.
“It’s been at least a couple of years that we changed our procedure,” East Lansing police Chief Tom Wibert said. “It used to be that there was a requirement when an officer had reasonable suspicion and (a minor) refused to submit to a breath test that a civil infraction could be written. That is something we had changed.”
The decision, made by U.S. District Judge David M. Lawson, said that issuing a Breathalyzer test without a search warrant violates the Fourth Amendment’s illegal search and seizure provisions.
The case was brought to the Detroit district court by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of four people who believed their rights were violated when they were forced to submit to a Breathalyzer test. The officers in each case did not have a search warrant.
Wibert said the city department changed their policies about issuing Breathalyzer tests in 2003 when Judge Lawson made the same ruling in regard to a Bay City ordinance based on the state’s Breathalyzer law.
“Back when that case came out, we adjusted our policies to comply with that case,” Wibert said. “I don’t expect us to have to change anything.”
MSU police Chief Jim Dunlap said campus officers rarely issue a citation for failure to submit to a breath test, and the ruling will not have a dramatic impact on departmental procedures.
“We have never been in the business of randomly testing people,” Dunlap said. “Looking at our typical arrest, our average blood alcohol (level) when we arrest people is somewhere around 0.15 (percent). Considering the threshold for a minor is 0.02 (percent), they’ve already exhibited behavior that calls attention to themselves.”
Dunlap said the department will wait on guidance from the Ingham County Prosecutor’s Office as to what policy changes, if any, will need to be made.
Michael Steinberg, the legal director of the ACLU of Michigan, said the ruling makes Michigan one of the last states to change its laws regarding Breathalyzer tests.
“Michigan was the only state in the country where a person is guilty of a civil infraction if they do not submit to a breath test,” Steinberg said.
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