NCJ Number
125057
Date Published
1987
Length
24 pages
Annotation
Nine videotape instances of the Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) arrest by the Dallas (Texas) City Police are analyzed to determine how comprehension is treated in the DWI arrest procedure.
Abstract
This study covers five basic aspects of the DWI interview: the verbal interview itself, police reports of the arrest, nonverbal communication, reading comprehension, and participants points of view, or perspectives of this event. Results indicate that relatively little is comprehended, even when the police officers make their most valiant efforts to do so. Problems in the lack of comprehension include lack of clarity in the statements read by the police officers, requests for clarification by the subjects and other evidences of failure to comprehend, and lack of effective police responses to the subjects' requests for clarification or other information. There also appears to be a lack of concern by the police for the subjects' comprehension, and police use of indirect speech acts and ambiguous terms. Some suggestions are that police officers listen and watch videotapes of arrests carefully, have an accurate transcript of the speech made, and pay attention to nonverbal aspects of the videotape.