No-refusal weekend in Kane County

Officers seek impaired drivers

The Kane County state's attorney's office will be handing out tickets, instead of treats, to drunken drivers on Halloween.

A no-refusal operation will take place this evening and will remain in effect until Sunday morning in several Kane County jurisdictions, the Kane County state's attorney's office said.

Teamed with the Illinois State Police, prosecutors will conduct the operation as a normal drunken driving stop where a suspect is asked to submit a blood or breath sample. While drivers typically have the right to refuse, prosecutors said this evening they won't have that luxury.

Because it is a no-refusal weekend, suspected drunken drivers will be given a court order to comply with officers' requests for blood or breath samples.

The evidence, prosecutors said, will help seal drunken driving convictions and prevent those with a DUI history from continuing to do so.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, about 66 percent of all Halloween highway fatalities are alcohol-related. This is more than 20 percent higher than the rest of the year.

Because Halloween falls on a weekend this year, police expect the number of impaired drivers to rise.

Kane County State's Attorney John Barsanti debuted "no refusal" last year as an aggressive way to compel suspected drunken drivers to submit to blood or breath tests. The no-refusal detail will be run between 11:30 p.m. and 3:30 a.m.

In addition to St. Patrick's Day in St. Charles this year, the state's attorney's office held the events over the Fourth of July weekend in Elgin, and in St. Charles, Geneva and Batavia over Memorial Day in 2008.

During no-refusal events, police officers follow their normal routine for drunken driving arrests. But if someone arrested refuses to take the breathalyzer test, attorneys are on hand to immediately go to a judge on call to ask him or her to sign a warrant. If the judge signs the warrant, that means the court is ordering the defendant to give a blood sample.

If the defendant continues to refuse, the court can follow with contempt sanctions and charge the defendant with felony obstructing justice.

Barsanti said police will not take blood samples by force.

But he and Assistant State's Attorney Steve Sims, who prosecutes the drunken driving cases, said it is a "myth" that defendants have the right to refuse breath tests or blood samples.