• Agencies should require prosecutors to host trainings teaching the legal aspects of DUI cases to all officers. This helps officers see why they need a prosecutor and lends credibility to prosecutors when they must instruct officers on what they need to improve. • Agencies should require prosecutors to do ride-alongs with officers, so that prosecutors can see first-hand, not just on video, what officers encounter on traffic stops every day. • Agencies should require prosecutors to attend and assist officers on implied consent hearings. This also builds relationships when officers see the prosecutor cares about all aspects of a case, not just a win or loss at trial. Focus Area #4: Increase Focus on Implied Consent Hearings An implied consent hearing is a separate administrative hearing to determine if the defendant was correctly arrested and refused to give a breath sample. For several reasons, some law enforcement agencies do not attend these hearings, meaning the person who refused will never serve the six-month suspension. However, some agencies that have committed to consistent attendance and preparation of these hearings have found favorable impacts. Knowing the accused is likely to have their suspension upheld, some defense attorneys will offer to plead guilty on the DUI criminal case if the prosecution will not seek the license suspension, thus increasing the conviction rate and saving future time preparing the criminal case. Officers also get valuable experience giving courtroom testimony with slightly less pressure than in a criminal case. Importantly, it also means the person arrested will experience some sort of penalty, regardless of the outcome of the criminal case, which should help with deterring future impaired driving. If more agencies put this attention on administrative cases, it could help with overall conviction rates and prevention of future DUIs. There may be more training and resources needed for this to happen in some areas. Focus Area #5: Judges Need to Own the Culture of DUI Cases in their Court A limited experience in the courtroom could lead one to the conclusion that the summary court judges hearing misdemeanor DUI cases do not have a substantial impact on the percentages of cases that lead to DUI convictions or are pled down to lesser charges. Often, the majority of DUI cases heard on a given day have already been worked out between the prosecutor and the defense, whether that agreement is a guilty plea for DUI or DUAC or a plea to a lesser charge. In these cases, the judge is typically just signing off on this agreement. However, a deeper look reveals that the summary court judge has an incredible amount of influence over the overall likelihood that arrests end up as DUI convictions in their
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