The process of charging someone with a DUI in one Mississippi county takes up to six weeks because the State has not fixed or replaced the county’s only breathalyzer machine, officials say.

The Brookhaven Daily Leader reports that every time an agency makes a DUI arrest in Lincon County, it must go through a four—to six-week process to accurately charge someone with a DUI.

Lincoln County Sheriff Steve Rushing said this is because the jail’s breathalyzer machine needs repairs, and the Mississippi Department of Public Safety has not given the jail a new machine nor repaired the old one. 

Rushing said right now they have to get a blood warrant signed off from a judge, take the person to King’s Daughter Medical Center and send the blood work off to the Mississippi Crime Lab to get the report of what was in the person’s system. 

Mississippi pays for DUI machines in all county jails and police agencies. 

“They have been in the process of replacing the system but we have not had a machine for two years,” Rushing said. “We can’t get a new one from the state. DPS told me there are new ones ordered. In January, they told me they haven’t come in yet. We have to do blood tests and warrants. It is a pain.” 

Rushing said when the DUI machine is at the jail they run tests on people who have probable cause for DUI. Charges are then based on the machine’s test. 

Trips to the hospital and waiting on warrants costs the sheriff’s office time. The blood work done at the hospital costs the taxpayers money and the tests sent to the crime lab only cause the crime lab to be backed up even more. 

“I offered to buy a machine. We keep getting told they will fix it,” Rushing said. “We can’t get a solid answer out of the state or when to expect a new machine.”