Snohomish County DUI Emphasis Patrols "Night of a Thousand Stars"
December 11, 2009 was the evening of the annual "Night of a Thousand Stars" kickoff in Snohomish County. The name derives from the badges worn by the reported nearly 1,000 DUI officers who patrolled throughout Washington state on this date, looking for drunk drivers. The Night of a Thousand Stars is part of a continued annual cooperative effort by the Washington State Patrol and other police agencies to increase DUI arrests and to decrease the incidence of DUI by increasing public awareness of police presence on the roads.
Certain legal issues can arise from such programs particularly where police officers make arrests outside of their jurisdiction, or where there is insufficeint probable cause for the detention or arrest of the citizen who is driving through an area saturated by such emphasis patrols.