By Lauren Wiliams, staff writer at Michael J. Brennan’s Law Blog.
Target Zero is Washington State’s highway safety plan that calls for reducing highway deaths to zero by the year 2030. Since 2010, more than 35 police agencies have launched Target Zero teams in King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties.
Teams include state troopers, county sheriff’s deputies, city officers, and tribal police officers. Target Zero teams focus on the violations of driving while impaired (DUI), speeding, and failure to wear a seat belt.
Officers have also been assigned enforcement zones to patrol. For example, in Pierce County, officers have focused a great deal of their attention on 6th Street in Tacoma and Main Street in Puyallup (the location of several bars and night clubs). In King County, the focus is in the neighborhoods of Queen Anne, Capitol Hill, Belltown, and some parts of Burien, Renton, and Redmond.
Officers who are part of the Target Zero team have been directed to initiate at least three stops per hour. This means that officers are on the lookout for minor violations to ensure that their quota is met. Common reasons for stopping a vehicle include:
- Defective license plate lamp
- Lack of mud flaps
- No third brake light
- Touching the skip line
Once an officer has stopped a vehicle, it gives them free range to investigate the driver for DUI. The pressure of meeting a quota can result in stops where probable cause was not established.
At Beckwith DUI Law, we frequently come across cases where the constitutional rights of our clients has been violated by law enforcement. It is your right to speak to an attorney during any type of criminal investigation and it is also your right to not respond to the questions that the police ask.