Troopers taking aim at drunken drivers Videos may boost conviction rate

AUGUSTA — State troopers are aiming a new weapon — video cameras — at suspected drunken drivers, with hopes of bolstering their evidence in court and reducing the number of accidents caused by impaired motorists.

The 25 cameras, which are being mounted in cruisers and are to be used across the state, are “an extra set of eyes for my troopers,” Col. Andrew Demers, chief of the state police, told a news conference Thursday.

Fifty-seven people died in alcohol-related traffic accidents in Maine last year.

At least half of the cameras, which were purchased through a donation from Aetna Life & Casualty company, will be in use during Labor Day weekend, officials said. Aetna has donated 600 cameras to more than 65 police agencies in 16 states, said Charles D. Brakeley of the company’s Portland office.

About 200 more cameras donated by Aetna will be in use across the country this weekend, company officials said.

The video cameras can be operated while officers are driving their patrol cars. The machine is switched on as soon as the trooper spots a vehicle driven by a suspected impaired motorist, and police tape all actions by the driver until he or she is arrested. Troopers also wear audio recorders.

Public Safety Commissioner John R. Atwood, a former district prosecutor, said he is confident the state can get a far greater conviction rate against drunken drivers “thanks to the irrefutability of videotape.”

He noted that juries, which can be swayed by a defendant’s sober and respectable appearance in court, will get a more accurate impression of the offender’s behavior at the time of arrest through videotapes.

Use of tapes in court also will make it harder for defendants to refute arresting officers’ testimony, said the Rev. Marilyn Owen Robb, executive director of the Maine chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

Robb, whose group purchased the cameras with Aetna’s donation, also hopes that bolstered cases against offenders will discourage courts from allowing defendants to plead guilty to reduced charges.

Offenders are more likely to enroll in treatment programs if they are convicted of operating while under the influence, said Robb, whose group promotes treatment of offenders as well as victim assistance.