Little is known about how often police officers drive drunk. It is generally assumed that most police officers are generally exempt from law enforcement. When an off-duty officer is stopped for driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs, in many instances the impaired officer is extended a professional courtesy, not arrested, and given a ride home. In this episode of the Police Integrity Lost podcast, Phil Stinson, Steve Brewer, and John Liederbach discuss their recent research study that provides empirical data on cases of police officers who have been arrested for DUI. The study identifies events that may have influenced the decision to arrest, including associated traffic accidents, fatalities, officer resistance, the refusal of field sobriety tests, and the refusal of blood alcohol content tests. Data are analyzed on 782 DUI arrest cases of officers employed by 511 nonfederal law enforcement agencies throughout the United States. The study is the only study known to describe police officer DUI arrests at many police agencies across the United States.

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