Texas DWI Defense Blog

If Austin signs on the changes in city-county agreement, bid for services will be sought.

By Suzannah Gonzales

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Published: 11:23 p.m. Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Blood could soon be drawn at Central Booking at the Travis County Jail , after county commissioners’ 4-0 vote Tuesday approving changes to an agreement between Travis County and the City of Austin.

The Austin City Council is expected to consider the agreement changes later this month. If council members approve the changes, Austin police officials will seek bids for the services.

A law went into effect last year that expanded the circumstances requiring blood or breath tests from DWI suspects. They now include incidents in which victims are injured and transported for medical care and the presence of a child passenger in the suspect’s vehicle, according to the documents.

The Travis County sheriff’s office and Austin police estimate that an additional 300 to 400 blood draws will be required each year on top of the 400 to 500 blood draws that have been taken at the request of local law enforcement.

The county and city would share the cost of the phlebotomy services, which could begin in mid-June, according to county documents.

According to the documents, from June 15 through Sept. 30, the cost of contracting with a phlebotomist, supplies and equipment is not to exceed $24,000, of which the county’s portion will be about $6,000.

For the 2011 fiscal year, the annual cost is estimated at $60,243, of which the county’s share is anticipated to be $15,000.

Phlebotomy services would be provided for the sheriff’s office and police from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. Tuesday nights through Sunday mornings , the documents said.

There would be an on-call phlebotomist during nonpeak hours.

The documents said two primary reasons for having a phlebotomist in Central Booking are to improve officer and public safety and to avoid the costs of blood draws at University Medical Center Brackenridge.

At Brackenridge, for an average 910 blood draws, phlebotomy services are estimated to cost $329,420 a year, or $362 per blood draw, a cost that includes a $275 medical exam.

“It saves taxpayers a ton of money,” said Austin police Lt. Randy Pogue of the DWI unit.

Though blood draws are taken at jails in Bexar, Dallas and Williamson counties, they are taken at hospitals in Harris and Tarrant counties, the documents said.

“We’re excited,” said Travis sheriff’s spokesman Roger Wade. “With the increasing demand, it became obvious that we need to do something more economical with the cost and manpower.”

sgonzales@statesman.com; 445-3616

Find this article at:

http://www.statesman.com/news/local/travis-approves-drawing-dwi-suspects-blood-at-jail-683248.html

This article was published on October 21, 2009 by the Austin American- Statesman.

For more information click here.

If Austin police are going to require suspects in some drunken driving cases to give blood samples, then the practice should be done by trained medical workers — and not police officers.

That is why the Austin City Council should approve a resolution that would bar officers from personally gathering blood samples and also support a compromise offered by Police Chief Art Acevedo that would raise money to hire phlebotomists to draw blood from suspects. The resolution by Council Members Bill Spelman and Laura Morrison is on Thursday’s agenda.

Under Acevedo’s compromise, staffs of Seton and University Medical Center Brackenridge hospitals would draw blood from DWI suspects until medical technicians could be hired to do it. Travis County Sheriff Greg Hamilton would help Acevedo raise the money for phlebotomists and permit them to work out of the county jail.

In recent months, Acevedo has pushed to get officers trained in drawing blood to bolster DWI cases during what are known as no refusal operations. The operations typically are conducted during holidays when drunken driving cases soar. It is legal for police to require suspects to give blood samples when they refuse to provide breath samples, as is done during no refusal operations. The question is whether officers should be doing that. In the past, hospital staffs did it, but backed off because of resources and concerns about collecting blood from criminal suspects.

Acevedo’s intentions are to get drunken drivers off the street and increase convictions — a laudable goal given the hazards those drivers pose to the community.

And Acevedo is within legal limits to use the method to get drunken drivers off the street. Blood evidence has increased convictions in DWI cases, Acevedo said. But drawing blood from suspects without their consent or cooperation has proved controversial because it is an invasive procedure that many believe comes with risks. That is where Spelman’s resolution comes in.