Have you ever left your keys in your car while you ran inside your house or a convenience store to grab something? In addition to making your vehicle prone to theft, Austin police officers are pushing for an ordinance that would issue citations to drivers of idling, unattended cars and cars with keys inside.

APD defends their stance by claiming that 37 percent of vehicle thefts are the result of keys left in cars. Commissioners from the Public Safety Commission raised a few objections, including the legality of entering private property to ticket a car owner. However, rather than rejecting the ordinance, they asked the police department to clarify some details and re-visit the issue during the December meeting. If the City of Austin does adopt the ordinance, they will be the 4th Texas city to issue tickets for keys in cars, following Dallas, Fort Worth, and Arlington.

The City of Austin has employed several interesting methods of catching car thieves, including using “bait vehicles” placed strategically around Austin. Additionally, the Help End Auto Theft (HEAT) program encourages drivers who do not normally drive between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. to place stickers on their cars. If the car is being driven during those hours, an officer can legally stop the vehicle and verify that it is being driven legally.

San Antonio has been looking for ways to combat drunken drivers since an epidemic of accidents and arrests made headlines earlier this year. The San Antonio Police Department lost two officers and another was seriously injured in separate crashes in late 2010 and early 2011 and Chief William McManus vowed to do everything in his power to stop drunk driving. As a response Bexar County (which includes the city of San Antonio) recently enacted a year round no refusal policy allowing mandatory blood tests (upon the initial refusal of a breath test).

Cities and counties in Texas typically restrict “No Refusal Weekends” to major holidays due to the cost of increased law enforcement and medical testing services. However San Antonio and Bexar Country are now comfortably funded to maintain their no refusal policy throughout the year thanks to a $1.4 Million dollar grant provided by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDot),

Drinking and driving is a very serious offense but civil liberties groups are questioning whether law enforcement is going too far in their pursuit of justice. As Benjamin Franklin once said “They, who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

So, the question remains; could this be a possibility for other locations in Texas, namely Austin? According to a recent report, both the Travis County Sheriff’s Office and the Austin Police Department mentioned that they hadn’t preformed any research on a similar program and as of yet, it has not been considered but that doesn’t mean it’s out of the picture.

How do you feel about no refusal policies? Do you believe law enforcement has gone too far?

Next time you’re downtown, don’t assume you’re out of APD’s sight. Seventeen crime cameras have been installed on Sixth Street and twelve more are going up soon.

The security cameras are part of Austin’s HALO (Higher Activity Location Observation) project, and several cameras have already been installed in high crime areas like Rundberg Lane and IH-35. The cameras are watched by police officers in Austin’s Real Time Crime Center, and are capable of moving, tilting, and zooming to better see suspicious activities. The cameras’ footage can be saved and used as evidence in criminal hearings.

East Sixth Street will have the highest concentration of cameras thus far, 29 in total. The Sixth Street area generally contributes significantly to Austin’s crime rates. Some have protested the installation of the cameras, claiming that it’s a civil rights violation.However the Austin Police Department responded that the cameras have significantly decreased crime in certain areas.

Update: The downtown crime cameras are already being credited with finding an assault suspect.

Update: 12 individuals were arrested on DWI charges on Halloween night, bringing the total DWI arrests for the weekend to 59. Over half of these arrests were made based on blood draws. Individuals who refused a Breathalyzer test were taken to local hospitals or the APD’s Blood Alcohol Testing, or BAT, bus in central Austin. Last year, only 50 arrests were made during the weekend.

If you’re planning to celebrate Halloween tonight, be sure to do so responsibly–this weekend is a “no-refusal” period in Austin until 5 a.m. on Tuesday. During no-refusal weekends, officers are immediately granted search warrants to blood or breath test any driver suspected to be intoxicated.

So far, the no-refusal weekend has resulted in 47 arrests for DWI. APD is expected to make several more arrests tonight as festivities continue, especially downtown. The last four-day no-refusal period, during this summer’s 4th of July weekend, resulted in over 70 DWI arrests. In order to prevent drunk driving, Capital Metro buses have extended their hours for the holiday weekend, and several buses will be running until 3 a.m. Similar to the no-refusal weekend during Labor Day, individuals who are arrested for a DWI with a 0.15 BAC or above will be charged with a Class A Misdemeanor and possibly receive tougher legal penalties.

If you have been charged with a DWI, we can help represent you in court. Contact McMinn Law Firm today.