Besides hand-held breathalyzers and field test training, suburban cops have another edge over Philadelphia police. In the suburbs, the process for effectuating an arrest is more streamlined. Suburban officers say that at most it generally takes only a half hour to get a suspected drunken driver tested. In Philadelphia, it takes an average hour and 49 minutes, police say - giving a suspect ample time to sober up at least partially. The suburban cops also do not have to wait for a supervisor to come to the scene and determine if someone appears drunk.
Suburban police say they make that call themselves.
Some departments also benefit from special programs to handle suspects. Thursdays through Saturdays, the Montgomery County sheriff's office operates a fast-track center on King Street in Pottstown. An officer can make an arrest, go to the center and leave them there for other cops to do the paperwork, Flanders said, which means they can make more arrests. And that means more DUI arrests, he said. All rights reserved.