Blood draw forum puts chief on hot seat
By NOELLE NEWTON / KVUE News
A public forum on APD’s “no refusal” initiatives turned into a fiery debate Monday night. People packed the council chambers to speak directly to Chief Art Acevedo.
On Halloween weekend, Austin police kicked off a new type of DWI enforcement — mandatory blood draws. When a person arrested for DWI refuses to give a blood or breath sample, officers get a search warrant for a blood sample. It’s drawn harsh criticism. Monday night that anger came to a head in a forum at City Hall.
“If you pull me over and try to extract blood from me, there is going to be a fight,” one audience member said.
Texans for Accountable Government sponsored a public forum. Police Chief Art Acevedo was on the hot seat defending his policy to those in the audience and on the panel.
“We have to use whatever tools we have at our disposal that are constitutional, consistent with the law, to keep people safe, hold people accountable,” Acevedo said.
The meeting got so heated at one point councilmember Mike Martinez threatened to close the meeting.
The biggest concerns, aside from doing it altogether, were if officers are the ones taking samples and if they will use force.
“Force is not an option for us. We are not going to beat people to draw blood,” Acevedo assured the audience. He also talked about adding cameras to the room where the blood would be taken.
People also questioned the handling of the blood fearing some officers would tamper with it. Martinez assured the crowd he was not willing to let officers take blood just yet, citing liability issues.
“I think there are too many questions and until those questions get answered, I don’t believe the City of Austin should be involved in collected blood samples and storing them,” Martinez said.
Acevedo hopes to convince the city council to allow officers to take a 40 hour course at Austin Community College and start drawing blood. He’s got 50 officers willing. If city leaders won’t approve that, he’d like seven paid phlebotomists on staff.
In the meantime, the forum sponsor–Texans for Accountable Government–is drawing up a resolution to prevent any officers from drawing blood.
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