New York Criminal Defense Blog

A proposed law in Westchester county would allow for seizure of a person’s car or vehicle upon conviction for a DWI in New York, even after a first offense.  This ordinance would be one of the most extreme in the nation, and goes beyond the recommendations of the AAA and even Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD).

The proposal is said to not be about the revenue gained from the sale of these vehicles, but designed as a strict deterrent for anyone who would consider driving while intoxicated.

Numerous critics suggest that the law goes much too far in punishing people beyond anything reasonably required for public safety. Plus, it is an extreme burden on middle and working class families to have a car taken away.

MADD is a large supporter of ignition interlock devices, even for first offense DWI convictions. An ignition interlock device requires a driver to blow into a machine that measures breath alcohol before being allowed to start the igntion. It is essentially a rolling breathalyzer. Under current New York state drunk driving law, ingition interlock devices are only mandatory after a third offense drunk driving conviction. Interlock requirements for 1st offense cases are becoming more common in other states, with Arizona and Illinois having enacted strict interlock laws recently.

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If you’ve been charged with DWI or drunk driving in New York state, please contact our law offices for a free legal case evaluation, and defense options specific to your case. There is no obligation for a consultation.

Six traffic tickets will get your car towed in Poughkeepsie, according to a new initiative to track down unpaid fines. An amnesty program will be in effect until November 1st which will waive late fees and fines, but after that point, you are at risk of much more serious fees if your car is towed and impounded.

A new city ordinance was passed to enable the towing and impounding of a person’s car who has 6 or more unpaid tickets. The city is said to have over $1 million in unpaid tickets that has yet to be collected, and with this aggressive action, they hope to collect 80% of that amount.

Of particular interest is that the Poughkeepie police will be using mobile license plate scanners to quickly identify any vehicles that have outstanding parking tickets. These devices can check at least several hundred plates an hour, just by driving by a parked vehicle. The video camera scans the plate, and matches the tag number using optical character recognition to a database of outstanding ticket violators.

Reason enough to get any traffic or parking citations resolved quickly, but it also should suggest that they will be using this technology for other law enforcement purposes. One these license plate scanners are in place and online, they can be used to match data from the DMV, and any law enforcement agency and court database. Common uses for these tag scanners are in locating stolen vehicles, and drivers with outstanding criminal warrants or suspended driver’s licenses.

This technology is becoming widespread across New York police departments and nationwide. Earlier, we mentioned that stationary plate scanners may be used to identify every driver entering New York City/Manhattan under efforts by homeland security agencies.