SC Police Now Not Giving Immediate Access to Breath Site Video?
When arrested for DUI, a person is offered a breath test. This test is offered in a jail setting. South Carolina law provides that the administration of the test must be videotaped. This has been the law for several years.
When this law was first applied, videotaping was accomplished with tape- based, VHS format tapes.
A few years ago, without a great deal of pronouncement, a new system was adopted by the state police, SLED. Digital, web-based recording of the breath test administration replaced VHS tape-based systems.
Whether a person arrested for DUI provided a breath sample or refused to do so, a ticket or test form was printed by the breath machine. This form contained printed information such as identifying information, arrest information, and within the subject of this post, a box containing a unique user name and password for access to the video recording.
These details allowed a person to access, through the SLED Internet website, and with the response to the person's email address, a link to the actual digital video recording of the breath test process. This link will take you to the SLED Web site where the video recording could be downloaded, if the user name and password was possessed. SLED access to video recordings
Of late, it appears that this breath test ticket does not contain this information which has been provided for years. Of late, what this data box contains, is ”Contact officer for video code information.“
It appears that the policies and procedures of SLED, not regulations, address this issue. These policies and procedures can be reviewed by anyone, and I urge you to do so, at SLED Implied Consent Policies and Procedures.
The policy relevant to this issue provides: ”A prosecutor/officer may supply video access to a defense attorney/defendant, upon a valid legal request (i.e. discovery motion, court order).“
I would imagine that I have a least one hundred breath test tickets or forms in my office files for clients that contain access to the ”codes“ permitting immediate review of the video recording of the administration of the breath test. While the language of the SLED ”policy,“ not regulation, has been ”on the books“ for some time, if is difficult to imagine why a change in practice seems to be underway. Many lawyers are at a loss to explain this.
If the statute requires video recording, a person to whom the breath test is administered has no option but .... to be recorded. Why shouldn't that person have immediate access to his or her recording? Particularly when a custom of doing so has been established?
