Hey George,

let me help you understand the police officer side of things.  First of all, in the state of Missouri, the officer has 90 minutes to have the suspected DWI driver submit to either a breathalyzer, a blood test or a urine test.  If they refuse their license is revoked for one year.  If their BAC is over .10 their license is automatically suspended for 30 days.  The blood or urine tests would have to performed at a hospital under the observation of the officer to maintain the chain of evidence.  Now most DWI's occur on Friday or Saturday nights, typically also the busiest times for the Emergency Room at any hospital.  A blood or urine test for a suspected DWI driver ranks pretty low on the ER's priority list of who to take care of first.  So the breathalyzer is the quickest route to take and is less time consuming so the officer can get out of the station and get back out to patrolling the community.  Second the paperwork required for processing a DWI arrest is worst than completing a 50 year search.  It can take most officers 4 hours just to write up all the paperwork and issue two or three tickets (one for usually the offense they got pulled over for, DWI, and usually a suspended or revoked driver's license).  Also it is just as frustrating to the officers that the DWI driver gets off with a slap on the wrist, because we know he or she will be out on the road, drinking and driving again.

    Jay