(traffic roaring) (car beeps)
(door slams)
- [Lorraine] Our crew recently rode
with trooper, David Chavez.
He patrols district eight,
which covers much of Pima County.
Across the state, there are 27,000 highway miles.
- The majority of stuff that we do
as highway patrol is collisions and traffic.
So we stop people for hazardous violations
and prevent violations
and correct their driving behavior.
- [Lorraine] Chavez has been on patrol for six years.
He's one of more than 1,100 troopers.
- If you've ever watched ants walking in a line,
and then you see one ant doing something weird,
that's kind of what catches my attention.
Majority of people are gonna be driving regular,
little speeding, maybe not so speeding.
- [Radio Operator] Unit, a report of a wrong way,
a white pickup, elderly male driver.
- [Lorraine] Our day covered areas along Interstate 10,
both east and westbound.
His focus is on criminal activity.
- The vast majority of people are regular people
and then probably like 4% of people are some sort
of habitual offender, driving super suspended, revoked,
canceled, maybe have like minor warrants,
misdemeanor warrants.
And then the 1% that I'm actively always looking for are
like the felons, the ones that have felony warrants,
the ones that just murdered somebody,
the ones that just kidnapped somebody,
domestic violence person on the run
because they beat up their loved one,
the people with child pornography,
child molesters that are on the run.
I'm actively looking for all of the super,
super bad guys all the time.
But the vast majority I'd come across are regular people.
- [Lorraine] Within minutes, Chavez makes his first stop.
- So he's yielding.
(radio chattering)
So he might've just tried,
been trying to make his exit quickly.
- [Lorraine] The next stop is westbound
through a construction zone.
(car beeps)
- So this gentlemen is
traveling approximately 62 miles per hour
in the number one lane in the construction zone
where it's supposed to be at 55.
- [Driver] 55, I had my (indistinct).
- [David] I was going 55 and you passed by me.
- [Driver] That was when it said the construction ended.
- [David] When you get past the sign,
that's when it changes, not before.
- [Lorraine] The stop becomes more complicated.
- [David] How much weed do you have in the car?
- [Driver] A little bit smoking.
- [David] The ones I seen you smoked?
- [Passenger] That's mine.
- [Driver] I understand the DUI laws.
- [Lorraine] The driver has a medical marijuana card.
Trooper Chavez says fresh
and smoked marijuana don't smell the same.
In this case, the story and behavior,
which Chavez is trained to identify,
is legitimate and the driver can continue on the roadway.
- Do you have any other questions for me?
- No, not at all. I appreciate you.
God bless you, you be safe out here, all right?
- Thanks. You too.
- [Lorraine] Arizona has a medical marijuana program.
It began in 2011.
10 years later, recreational use became legal.
Chavez says in about a third of his stops,
the vehicle contains marijuana.
- And their driving behavior varied
but they were all impaired by weed.
With the new marijuana laws,
they still can't drive impaired.
They can't smoke and drive,
they can't drink and drive.
They need to drive safely.
They need to think about themselves
in the way where they want to take care
of themselves and take care of other people.
Not just think of their priorities
because their driving behavior affects other drivers.
(traffic roaring)
- [Lorraine] In 2019, DPS made 17,000 arrests.
Nearly 5,500 were DUIs and some 3,700 were drug-related.
Though traffic dipped slightly, likely due to the pandemic,
Chavez notices activity is returning to normal.
- There is significantly more traffic on the road.
During that hard part of quarantine,
I could be sitting over here like off of I-10
and I would be able to individually count the cars
that were coming by me every five minutes.
- [Lorraine] Aside from citations or giving warnings,
his baseline is public safety, which we watched firsthand.
- Yup, with debris westbound,
two, three, four, road debris number one and two lane.
All right, so we're gonna have to wait for a natural break.
- [Radio Operator] Confirming two, four, three, one.
(door thuds)
(traffic roaring)
(David groans)
- [David] Yeah, real-life Frogger is not fun.
(traffic roaring)
- [Lorraine] Back to dealing with drivers,
the stops vary from friendly,
- [David] So you gotta take that one down.
So I'm just gonna get you a warning on it, but yeah,
make sure you don't have anything in front of you
that's gonna impede your ability to clearly see
out your windshield.
So they don't want,
and that thing's huge.
Yeah, that's like the biggest air-freshener
I've seen all day.
- [Driver] It's a Mexican kind, I'm not gonna lie.
- Is it? - Yeah.
- [David] Does it smell good? What's it smell like?
- [Driver] It's empanada.
- [David] It's empanada?
- Yeah. - Nice.
- [Lorraine] to somewhat aggressive.
- [David] You can't just hang out in the
number one lane, you gotta either drive faster
or you gotta move over to the right.
But yeah, pulled you over 'cause you're impeding all
that traffic.
So you're just getting warning,
but you're worried about getting a ticket?
- [Driver] Yeah, I know. I know how you guys function.
- [David] Zero, two, seven, eight, one, zebra, one.
- [Lorraine] Later in the day, the wind plays a factor.
- [David] Are you having trouble with the wind
or what's going on?
'Cause you haven't maintained your lane a couple,
like four times now.
- [Driver] No, I mean it's just the wind, man.
- [Lorraine] Every stop Chavez made revealed some sort
of violation,
- [David] Yeah, you have a limited extradition warrant.
- [Lorraine] though DPS has seen a consistent flow
of border-related crimes.
- If they are smuggling,
there's probably more than one vehicle.
They probably have distractions
that might be coming up on it too
to protect the load or whatever.
So grossly outnumbered out here.
- [Lorraine] On this day, there's a small amount of drugs
on a suspected impaired driver.
- Yeah, with the copy rolling two, eight out on Nevada,
eastbound 10, two, three, six.
When he got near us, he pulled up alongside and then he went
at a higher rate of speed and got ahead.
As soon as the window went down,
I could start smelling odor of alcohol coming out
of the vehicle.
And then he lowered all the windows,
so kind of blew the odor away.
But I looked down and there was a beer can
in front of me on the passenger seat.
And I could hear in his voice
that he had this slurred speech.
And then later on, when I asked him
to remove his eyeglasses,
his eyes are bloodshot and watery,
which are other indicators of possible impairment.
So I have slurred speech, odor of alcohol,
and bloodshot, watery eyes.
So three different reasons to ask him to maybe consent
to tests and he consented to the field sobriety test.
(traffic roaring) - One, two, three.
- [Lorraine] Between I-10 and an off-ramp,
Chavez conducts a field sobriety test,
which he says the driver failed.
- [David] It's just a breath test.
So just take a deep breath,
blow into the tube until I tell you to stop, all right?
- [Driver] I've always been told, sir,
to be honest, to refuse when it comes to the breathalyzer.
- You don't wanna do the breathalyzer?
- [Driver] Yeah, I've been told, you know what, yeah.
- It's up to you, yes or no?
- [Driver] What would happen if (indistinct).
- [David] Well, you told me you hadn't
drunken it all, right?
- [Driver] Did I do well on test?
- I can smell it on you so hard right now, dude.
- Really? - And your eyes are,
I gotta arrest you, all right?
- Are you serious? - I gotta arrest you.
See indicators of impairment on multiple tests.
(traffic roaring)
- [Driver] Ugh, really, which one?
- [Lorraine] While searching the vehicle,
Chavez finds marijuana.
The driver is charged and taken back to the station
where a judge issues a warrant for blood test.
In this room, Chavez also serves as a phlebotomist.
Suspicion of DUI can take a trooper off the roadway
for more than 60 minutes at a time.
State police average more than 420,000 stops a year,
at least one stop during every hour of his shift.
Chavez asks drivers for patience.
- They should remember the Move Over Law for Arizona.
If they break down and they have their hazard lights on,
vehicles are supposed to move over or slow down
if they're unable to move over.
And then same thing with emergency lights,
if the emergency lights are on,
they're supposed to move over,
give a lane in between, move over,
or slow down if they're unable to.
- [Lorraine] For this trooper,
a day without a collision or a fatality is a good one.
(radio chattering)