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Just because someone is arrested does not mean they are guilty
To the Editor:
Hi, my name is Jon Quinzani. I was doing a Google search to see if any arrests anywhere had come up under my name, there were none but it did give me a chance to look at your list. I am searching for arrests under my name because, 23 years ago, my Father, who was severely alcoholic, decided the best way to handle his adult son (me) was to call the police on me every time I offended his sensibilities. Things like not going to University straight out of high school...or studying a major he thought silly (religious studies, I am now an ordained minister). Those arrests, even there were no convictions, ever, have dogged me my whole life, I have found employment outside the Church difficult to find and I am paid very little to be a part-time pastor. Just because someone is arrested does not mean they are guilty, the police (and the FBI) make it a policy to not release information about arrests that do not result in conviction of an individual. For instance, a diabetic or someone suffering his/her first petit mal seizure or someone suffering a small stroke or senility might appear intoxicated and not be. But once your name is associated with a crime your life can become very difficult. I understand that it is fact that these people were arrested and so in the public's mind-guilty and you are just doing your job publishing fact, but you also may be destroying peoples lives. It is the media's job to report truth, an arrest may be fact, but may only be half the story. You wield great power, please use it wisely.
Thank
You
Reverend Jon Quinzani
(Editor's Note:
Reverend; Thank your taking the time
to write about this issue. We have published the names of approximately
35,000 people who have been arrested for DWI in Southern Maryland since
1990. In addition, our reporters and photographers have been on the
scene for about a thousand of those arrests with photographs of hundreds
of them appearing in this newspaper, all to attempt to dissuade folks
from driving after drinking.
I would expect that even you would
agree that there is not too much similarity between the unique
circumstances of your problem with your father and the continuing
problem of drunk driving.
By observing the arrests which take
place from start to finish, it is clear that most of those who say they
have only had a couple of beers, really mean that is what they wish they
had consumed when actually they had much more.
The officers put these people
through the paces pretty good and many drivers who should be arrested
are not as it is estimated that by the time they get to the alcohol
testing stage they would be dropping in BAC level. Instead of being
arrested they are prevented from driving further and a call is made to
have someone pick them up or a cab is called, a prudent decision on the
part of the law officer.
Officers are trained to spot when
someone is suffering from a medical problem. One of the first tip-offs,
which may not occur to you, is that the person stopped for erratic
driving doesn't smell like a brewery like the typical DWI driver does.
These persons who have suddenly suffered from a medical problems usually
exhibit a variety of symptoms which deputies and troopers are trained to
spot and often do.
One deputy found a driver who
exhibited signs of possible drunk driving and upon pulling him over,
found the man had left Florida a few days earlier and suddenly became
lost and couldn't remember the names of his family or where he was
going. This man was not taken to the drunk tank, rather this elderly
driver was safeguarded in the duty office and tended to carefully by
officers for the five or six hours that it took for family to arrive
from out of town. Another older driver was stopped in Park Hall for
possible drunk driving, failed all his roadside sobriety tests and was
taken to Leonardtown for the blood alcohol test which showed he didn't
have a bit of booze in his system. This man just couldn't stand up
straight or drive straight. He was not arrested.
Only one time has a person protested
his arrest as being illegal and an interview with him was published
which made it clear he was probably wrongfully arrested.
There is not much danger in ruining
someone's life to publish the fact that they were arrested for DWI. It
is far more likely that this coverage saves lives. We do cover the
convictions of the most serious involving deaths of the victims of drunk
drivers as well as some of those who have been arrested five or six
times.
Your statement about the police
withholding information about arrests which do not result in convictions
is incorrect. Any arrests are public record and should be as this
information leads to accountability for the quality of the job that the
law enforcement agencies are performing.
The role of the free press in this
nation at reporting on the actions of government of all levels and
especially of law enforcement is vital to protecting the freedoms we all
have under our Bill of Rights.
In the meantime, the DWI Hit Parade
is often cited by many as a good reason to not drive after drinking. )