I was Patrolman on the NYCPD in 1964-72 when I made Sergeant and then Lieuteant 10 years later. Back in the 60's and 70's there was not the effort to arrest drunk drivers that there is recently. The paper work and court time after making a drunk driver arrest was totally ridicilous. You would arrest someone at 6 PM and take him to and IDTU (Intoxicated Driver Testing Unit) at a location usually 3 precincts away from where you were. You would then wait for the Technicians (specially trained Motorcycle Cops) to arrive and they would administer the tests. This whole deal could take 4 hours. Then you go to the precinct to process the arrest and call for wagon to take the prisoner to court for arraignment. Now you arrive at night court at 1130 PM and the court closes at midnight. You wait again for a wagon to take the prisoner somewhere for lodging. Drop him/her off at another precinct and find your way home to your precinct to go off duty. You have to ride in the wagon with the prisoner and the wagon will not take you back to your precinct. You are on your own. At 0700 you are expected to be at the lodging precinct to pick up your prisoner and take him to court via wagon.

You arrive at court and wait all day for you case to be called. It never does. You wait for night court to convene and you might get lucky and get your case arraigned by 10 PM. Then you go back to the precinct and go home.

After you go through this a couple of times an old timer will come up to you and suggest that instead of locking up a drunk driver it might be better to call his wife or somebody to pick him up and forget the arrest. We learned how to throw the keys to the car in a sewer and send the drunk on his way on foot. We even took the richer drunks to a nearby hotel for them to sleep it off. We kept the keys and gave them to our relief for them to bring to the hotel desk clerk 8 or so hours later. We could be real inventive in ways not to screw up our lives and at the same time get a drunk off the road. Today the emphasis is on locking them up and I certainly hope they have streamlined the arrest process for drunks in NYC since I retired in 1984.

07 Speedmstr, Long Tors, bags, sissy bar and rack, windshield, engine bars, 2 ww lights, 2 fast eddy stickers and a .45 ACP.