Ocean City DUI Enforcement
The following is information on how DUI charges are treated in Ocean City , Maryland and how law enforcement officers catch those who drive under the influence. If you have been charged with DUI, or another related charges such as DWI, call and schedule a consultation with an Ocean City DUI lawyer today to discuss your case and begin building a defense.
Ocean City has its own police department and in the summer months when Ocean City has a large number of tourists visiting, the Ocean City Police Department will hire seasonal officers, all of whom have the authority to investigate and ticket people for DUI laws and all traffic offenses.
Ocean City is a large tourist attraction. In the summer there will be visitors from not just other parts of the state of Maryland, but also tourists from neighboring states of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. Ocean City markets itself as a family friendly tourist destination. In order to keep those families safe and keep them coming down here and making sure that they are visiting the town, the town makes sure to very heavily enforce and prosecute any violations of both the criminal laws and the traffic laws.
DUI Checkpoints and Roadblocks in Ocean City
DUI checkpoints are not common within the city limits of Ocean City. However, they are quite common on Route 50 and Route 90 which are those major highways coming into Ocean City. It is not unusual for people to visit Ocean City even if they’re just visiting for the day and then attempting to drive home. There are officers who conduct DUI checkpoints looking for suspected drunk drivers several times in the summer.
Are DUIs An Area of Focus for Law Enforcement Officer?
DUIs and DWIs are very much an area of focus. Again, this goes back to Ocean City being a family tourist destination. The town of Ocean City goes out of its way to provide a family-friendly and safe environment for tourism in the summer and that includes heavy enforcement of both traffic laws and criminal laws within the city limits of Ocean City. This is in order to keep Coastal Highway safe for families to drive on. There is also a boardwalk area that is marketed as being very family-friendly.
DUIs are definitely an area of focus for law enforcement. There are multiple police officers that are patrolling Ocean City in the summer months. It is not unusual to see a patrol car every couple of blocks in Ocean City and they are very aggressively enforcing the DUI laws. They will stop any driver that they would suspect is driving after having had too much to drink.
Ocean City DUI Drug Enforcement
The officer decides whether to investigate someone for a drug-related DUI based on several different factors. If the officer determines that the driver’s coordination seems to be impaired, but the driver does not have an odor of alcohol on his breath or his person, that would lead the officer to suspect that the driver is under the influence of something like a drug instead of alcohol.
Ocean City Police Department has several officers who have been trained and certified as drug recognition experts. Those officers took the necessary training and passed the test and were certified to be able to conduct a very specific type of examination in order to determine if the driver in under the influence of a drug. It is a very detailed examination, it’s a multiple-step examination and the final step is the officer taking a blood sample from the driver and submitting that blood sample to a chemist or an analyst to determine if the person was under the influence of some sort of drug.
Contacting An Attorney For a DUI Case
The sooner that a driver can get in touch with an attorney the better because there are decisions that the driver will have to make and those decisions will have significant implications in both the traffic case and also with the MVA. One such decision is whether or not to take the breath test. Although it may seem minor at the time, taking the test can end up having a huge impact on your case and on your driving privileges.
As a result it is always preferable to consult with an attorney as soon as possible to avoid making any mistakes that could end up costing you eventually.