> > By DONNA DE LA CRUZ > The Associated Press > 01/21/99 8:10 PM Eastern > > NEW YORK (AP) -- Anyone arrested for driving drunk in New York City will > have their cars seized and not given back unless they are acquitted of > the charges, the police commissioner said Thursday. > > "There's nothing more serious to the innocent public than people who > drive drunk," Commissioner Howard Safir said. > > The NYPD plans to implement its so-called "Zero Tolerance Drinking and > Driving Initiative" within the next month, Safir said. He said New York > is the first major city to implement such an initiative. > > Under the forfeiture provision in the city's administrative code, police > can seize "instrumentalities of crime," Safir said. But the provision > does not specifically say that police can seize cars from drunk drivers. > "This is a creative use of a law designed to deal with instrumentalities > of crime," Safir said. > > Norman Siegel, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, > thinks Safir's plan can be legally challenged because the provision does > not cite drunk driving. > > "The executive branch can't add punishment to the drunk driving laws," > Siegel said. "We recognize that drunk driving is a serious crime, but an > open-ended grant of authority ... is not adequate in our perspective." > > Last year, 6,368 people were arrested for drunk driving in the city, > down slightly from 1997 when there were 6,836 arrests. There were 31 > fatalities attributed to DWI last year, compared with 52 in 1997, > according to police statistics. > > > November Coalition Forum
By DONNA DE LA CRUZ The Associated Press 01/21/99 8:10 PM Eastern NEW YORK (AP) -- Anyone arrested for driving drunk in New York City will have their cars seized and not given back unless they are acquitted of the charges, the police commissioner said Thursday. "There's nothing more serious to the innocent public than people who drive drunk," Commissioner Howard Safir said. The NYPD plans to implement its so-called "Zero Tolerance Drinking and Driving Initiative" within the next month, Safir said. He said New York is the first major city to implement such an initiative. Under the forfeiture provision in the city's administrative code, police can seize "instrumentalities of crime," Safir said. But the provision does not specifically say that police can seize cars from drunk drivers. "This is a creative use of a law designed to deal with instrumentalities of crime," Safir said. Norman Siegel, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, thinks Safir's plan can be legally challenged because the provision does not cite drunk driving. "The executive branch can't add punishment to the drunk driving laws," Siegel said. "We recognize that drunk driving is a serious crime, but an open-ended grant of authority ... is not adequate in our perspective." Last year, 6,368 people were arrested for drunk driving in the city, down slightly from 1997 when there were 6,836 arrests. There were 31 fatalities attributed to DWI last year, compared with 52 in 1997, according to police statistics. November Coalition Forum ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
