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Cynthetiq · 05-24-2008, 11:56 AM

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View: Suozzi plans to release holiday DWI arrest records
Source: Newsday
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Suozzi plans to release holiday DWI arrest records
Suozzi plans to release holiday DWI arrest records
BY SID CASSESE

sid.cassese@newsday.com

10:11 PM EDT, May 23, 2008

Incensed by an allegedly drunken driver nearly killing a Nassau police officer last week, County Executive Thomas Suozzi is expected on Tuesday to release the name and address of every person arrested for driving under the influence in the county this holiday weekend.

For the first time, Suozzi and Police Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey are promoting the idea of publishing such information for every DWI and DUI arrest from the Memorial Day weekend. "We'll see how that works as a deterrent before trying it again," Suozzi said.

On Thursday, Suozzi and Mulvey saw the smashed police car Officer Kenneth Baribault was in on the Long Island Expressway last weekend. Baribault had detained a suspected drunken driver when a second alleged drunken driver slammed into his car from behind.

Afterward, Suozzi and Mulvey warned drivers that they would be doubling patrols over the holiday weekend and that anyone driving while intoxicated would be arrested. Last Memorial Day weekend, 72 people in Nassau were arrested on charges of intoxicated driving, a police spokesman said.

Now Suozzi is saying they will release photos of defendants and ask the media to publish their names and hometowns. Suozzi also vowed to send the mug shot and arrest record of each defendant to their local newspaper and request that they print it as well.

Hofstra Law School Professor Robin Charlow said Suozzi's action is both constitutional and sensible. "We want to use the criminal law to deter others from committing crimes. Shaming individuals -- which Suozzi is attempting -- serves the same function," she said.

Suozzi and Mulvey are to hold a news conference on this issue at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Nassau County Police Headquarters in Mineola. They are expected to hand out DVDs there with information on those arrested over the weekend. Suozzi also said the data will be posted on the county Web site.

Asked whether Newsday will publish the material, editor John Mancini said, "We'll take a look at and evaluate whatever material is released."

In Suffolk County, police have said they also would increase patrols to deter drunken driving this weekend, which would include checkpoints. During the Memorial Day weekend last year, Suffolk officers arrested 60 people on charges of driving under the influence.

The accident involving Baribault happened May 18 at 5:50 a.m. on the eastbound lane by the Sunnyside Boulevard overpass near Exit 46.

Baribault had pulled a black Kia sport utility vehicle over to the right side of the road and was in the patrol car when the driver of a silver Mercedes CLK320 plowed into it.

Baribault is still listed in critical condition in intensive care unit of Nassau University Medical Center.

I'm all for this kind of public record disemination of information. While I don't agree with Megan's Law (always registering), I do agree that the information being public is important. Many people in our building of 400+ units that there is a released pedophile living here, mostly becasue people aren't going to look it up.

I do agree that the prostitutes and johns who are posted are also deterrents.

I'm not sure how I feel about it being posted in the paper or on TV as there is some element of "innocent until proven guilty" that is being circumvented, maybe it's more convicted by media than anything else.

I don't drink and drive. Never have and never will.

In some cases bad behavior these days seems to be rewarded. We watch and consume more media for people who have utterly attrocious behavior.

Do you believe that public humiliation is a deterrent? What if it was you who was picked up?