The Impaired Driving Investigations (IDI) Unit investigates Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) cases in the City of Austin and enforces DWI laws to send an educational message to motorists who drink and drive.
Due to staffing shortages, the IDI replaced the DWI Enforcement Team when it was temporarily suspended as a full-time unit in June of 2021. Officers were placed back on patrol as part of an Auxiliary DWI, Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) team. Now, each DWI Liaison officer is a certified DRE and are the de facto DWI experts within the Department. Currently, officers respond from their patrol assignments to perform DRE evaluations on suspected impaired drivers in addition to all high-profile DWI investigations. The unit consists of two full-time detectives and one sergeant.
Statistics show that around 85 percent of collisions occurring between midnight and 2:59 a.m. involve drivers who are under the influence of alcohol and during that same time period, over half of fatal collisions involve drivers who are under the influence of alcohol. The Austin Police Department is committed to arresting and prosecuting those who choose to drink and drive.
No Refusal Initiative
The Austin Police Department started an initiative on Halloween 2008 called No Refusal Weekend. This initiative continues today and is designed to be a high-profile reminder to all drivers that the odds of getting arrested and successfully prosecuted when driving while intoxicated go up drastically on No Refusal Weekends. During a No Refusal Weekend, when a suspected drunk driver refuses to submit to giving a sample of their breath or blood, a search warrant is written and presented to a judge asking for a sample of the suspect’s blood. No Refusal Weekends occur all throughout the year on various weekends.