South Carolina Supreme Court Busts Town for Ignoring Camera Law
In 1998, South Carolina lawmakers mandated that police use dashboard mounted cameras to document the arrest of anyone arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI). The state supreme court on Monday ruled that the town of Mount Pleasant was not in compliance with this statute, which states a suspect “must have his conduct at the incident site and the breath test site video recorded.”
Mount Pleasant officials believed they could get away with this because the dashcam law was written to take effect gradually as the video equipment was distributed throughout the state. In 2007, the high court referred to this provision as providing “a reasonable grace period.” In the present case, the justices saw the town as attempting to evade its legal responsibility with an overly clever reading of the letter of the law.
“We find the town’s protracted failure to equip its patrol vehicles with video cameras, despite its ‘priority’ ranking, defeats the intent of the legislature and violates the statutorily-created obligation to videotape DUI arrests,” Justice Donald W. Beatty wrote for the court. “Accordingly, we do not believe that the Town should be able to continually evade its duty by relying on subsection (G) of section 56-5-2953.”
The court found that although the city did not necessarily have to spend its own funds for the cameras, it was responsible for requesting them from the state Department of Public Safety.
“We find the town’s explanation is disingenuous,” Beatty wrote. “Admittedly, the legislature was silent with respect to a time requirement for when vehicles must be equipped with video cameras. However, applying the rules of statutory construction, we find the town’s interpretation would defeat the legislative intent of section 56-5-2953 and the overall DUI reform enacted in 1998.”
The ruling affirmed a lower court’s dismissal of DUI charges against Treva Roberts for a November 1, 2007 incident.
[Courtesy: Thenewspaper.com]
More by The Newspaper
Latest Car Reviews
Read moreLatest Product Reviews
Read moreRecent Comments
- Slavuta Nissan + profitability = cheap crap
- ToolGuy Why would they change the grille?
- Oberkanone Nissan proved it can skillfully put new frosting on an old cake with Frontier and Z. Yet, Nissan dealers are so broken they are not good at selling the Frontier. Z production is so minimal I've yet to see one. Could Nissan boost sales? Sure. I've heard Nissan plans to regain share at the low end of the market. Kicks, Versa and lower priced trims of their mainstream SUV's. I just don't see dealerships being motivated to support this effort. Nissan is just about as exciting and compelling as a CVT.
- ToolGuy Anyone who knows, is this the (preliminary) work of the Ford Skunk Works?
- Kwik_Shift_Pro4X I will drive my Frontier into the ground, but for a daily, I'd go with a perfectly fine Versa SR or Mazda3.
Comments
Join the conversation
Every cop car should have video and every cop should have a voice recorder on their person recording every second they are on duty. If the device fails or somehow "accidently" gets turned off the case is dismissed. Recording devices are now small enough and cheap enough that every official interaction should be recorded. It protects both sides.
Well said Mike, I agree 100%. Short story - as a NC resident, I always cringe going down south as some of those little towns are nothing but speed traps and worse. Thankfully the redneck riviera aka Myrtle Beach is too dependant on tourism to risk getting a bad rep for heavy handed po-lice. Although, if you ride a motorcycle, all bets are off!