Departments must restore public trust | In Our Opinion
Published 1:52 pm Friday, January 8, 2016
The Poulsbo Police and Kitsap County Sheriff’s departments are pointing fingers regarding a sheriff’s sergeant found impaired in his vehicle at the Regal Cinemas parking lot and, later that same night, in the driveway of his home. The sergeant admitted to a Poulsbo police officer that he was intoxicated and that he had driven home.
Officials say they didn’t have grounds to remove the sergeant from his car at Regal Cinema or arrest him later at his home because his keys were not in the ignition and his car was parked safely off the roadway.
Look at the facts, though, and it’s clear both agencies mishandled this. More effort could have been made at the Regal Cinema parking lot to get a clearly intoxicated individual out of his vehicle. If the sergeant would have been involved in a collision in which someone was injured or killed, “He didn’t have his keys in the ignition” or “He declined the offer of a ride” would have been poor responses to the question of why police allowed a visibly impaired person to stay in his vehicle in the first place.
The officer who made contact with the sergeant at the Regal Cinema parking lot smelled alcohol. Did she look for a bottle or can in the sergeant’s vehicle? If there were one and it had been opened and there were any alcohol in it, that could have warranted being cited under state laws prohibiting having an open container in a car or drinking in public.
RCW 46.61.519 states: “It is a traffic infraction to drink any alcoholic beverage in a motor vehicle when the vehicle is upon a highway” and “It is a traffic infraction for a person to have in his or her possession while in a motor vehicle upon a highway, a bottle, can, or other receptacle containing an alcoholic beverage if the container has been opened or a seal broken or the contents partially removed.” It might also have been enough to remove the sergeant from his vehicle.
Washington State Patrol spokesman Russ Winger said an intoxicated person in a legally parked vehicle with keys removed from the ignition can technically be arrested. “I don’t think they have to [arrest]. But could you? Yeah,” Winger said. “You can do that on almost anything and leave it up to the court.”
In Snohomish County, a motorist in a similar circumstance would likely be cited for “Physical control of vehicle under the influence.” Snohomish County Sheriff’s spokeswoman Shari Ireton referred to RCW 46.61.504, which states:
“A person is guilty of being in actual physical control of a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicating liquor or any drug if the person has actual physical control of a vehicle within this state.” Even if the keys are not in the ignition and the car is in a parking lot or driveway, Ireton said, “You have the ability to physically control that vehicle [and] you have the ability to have access to a public roadway.”
Finally, Washington State Patrol should have been called to handle the investigation at the sergeant’s home. The sergeant is known to the Poulsbo police officer who found him in his driveway at home, and, of course, he’s known to his coworkers. There’s no way officers on the scene could have not been affected by that. That’s why they should have called Washington State Patrol.
Public trust has been damaged. Sheriff and police administrators need to own up to that, and ensure proper policies and procedures are in place to prevent any future such mishandlings — no matter whether the driver is an officer, a public official or a civilian.
