OWI: Investigative Techniques used by law enforcement

What are some of the “investigative techniques” that officers use?  There are a handful of techniques that officers use to gain evidence.  First, they often will follow a vehicle for an extended period of time to observe driving behavior.  For example, the officer is going to count how many times your tires touched the center line, or that you were “weaving within your own lane.“  After stopping your vehicle, and upon their initial approach to your vehicle, they are going to stand at your window and see what they can see, smell what they can smell, and hear what they can hear.  If they see anything that has the potential to be evidence, they are going to want to examine it.  This can mean something as obvious as open beer cans, to as subtle as a pack of cigarettes.  They are going to watch your every move while you are search for your license, registration and insurance.  The officer’s report will ultimately say that you were “fumbling around” looking for those things.  The report will also indicate “an odor of alcoholic beverage coming from within the vehicle.“  These are common phrases included in most reports.  You will next be asked to sit in the officer’s vehicle.  This helps the officer in many ways.  The officer can sit and chat with you while he’s filling out your traffic citation.  He is going to try to get you to admit you had a beer prior to driving.  If you have a passenger in your vehicle, the officer is then going to go up and ask the passenger the same questions and look for any discrepancies in the stories.  Often times, the officer will tell the passenger that the driver said things, when in fact the driver said no such things.  In this day and age, most law enforcement vehicles are equipped with video and audio capability and will capture the entire encounter.  Sometimes an officer will turn off his microphone so that he does not record what is said.  Eventually you will end up in front of his vehicle performing physical exercises and the officer will say that he could tell you were intoxicated by how you performed those exercises.