The City of Huntington Beach’s Police Department is looking into posting the names of suspected drunk drivers on Facebook, said Lt. Russell Reinhart, according to the L.A. Times.
Who is behind this?
Apparently, 31 percent of vehicle-related deaths in California involve drunk driving, said Huntington Beach Councilman Devin Dwyer. That’s what motivated him to suggest that Huntington Beach police post drunk driving arrest data on a Facebook page.
Interesting. I did a search and found that John Devin Dwyer got busted in 2003, for “unsafe speed for prevailing conditions.”
In 1992, Devin started his construction company “John Dwyer Construction.” (John is his official first name) His business has succeeded for more than 18 years with Devin as President/CEO.
Guess what? The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reports that speeding contributes to 33 percent of all traffic-related deaths in the U.S.
So it looks like Dwyer is a bigger threat than drunk drivers.
As for posting the DUI arrests on Facebook, not cool. The HB cops already have an awful reputation. This won’t help.
What if a guy barely gets a DUI – which is to say he is just over the limit?
What if the breathalyzer is wrong?
What if he is an upstanding citizen who made one mistake?
This is ridiculous.
Why don’t we post all the cops who get caught beating people up illegally? And don’t a lot of cops get caught for DUIs – only to be let go by their buddies?
OK, HB has a problem. But outing people on Facebook is not the solution. How about allowing more bars to serve food? Too often bars are only allowed to serve peanuts. No bueno!
How about holding the bartenders accountable for letting wasted clients stumble out of the bars and into their cars?
How about closing the bars earlier?
Surely there have to be better solutions than posting the names of those arrested for DUIs on Facebook.
By the way, HB City Attorney Jennifer McGrath, who was first elected city attorney in 2002, has herself pleaded guilty to driving under the influence and paid a $1,600 fine and attended alcohol awareness classes after being stopped in 2005 for driving on the wrong side of Main Street, not far from City Hall.
Will McGrath get posted on the HB Facebook DUI page too? Should Dwyer be posted on a Facebook Speeding page? That would be only fair.
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