Cops. Of course I love cops. I mean, without them, who would lock us in cages and ruin our lives for no damn reason? And no, don't try to sell us on this nonsense of you were pressured into making a DUI arrest. >> I, for one, have been pressured into making a DUI arrest that I didn't agree with. >> I know you're shocked. Law enforcement agents who were entrusted to protect and serve, to uphold and defend rights, are pulling people over, innocent people, harassing them, and writing false reports saying they're under the influence of some substance and they need to be placed into a cage. Let's take a look at this and make some vital comments along the way because this kind of thing keeps happening and it's not just relegated to the Tennessee Highway Patrol. >> It's a problem. and Tennessee lawmakers say has affected hundreds of people across the state. Drivers arrested for DUI even though toxicology reports later showed they were sober. >> Now, questions are being raised about how and why those arrests keep happening. Those allegations include pressure to make DUI arrest and evaluation tools that some say amount to quotas. Tonight, we take a deeper look and how those practices may have led to sober drivers ending up in handcuffs. Notice how fake stream media, they're always in the corner of the cops in some way to some degree because they're like, "These are allegations. These are beyond allegations." When the cop arrests you, harasses you, cuffs you, kidnaps you, and throws you into a cage and you lose your job, and the toxicology report comes back saying, "Hey, this person wasn't driving under the influence." That's beyond allegation. That is proof. And you got to stay tuned because in the next segment on this same video right here, they're going to confront this THP colonel and he's going to lie right to the camera. I know you were surprised about that. >> News Channel 9 Sarah Hower uncovered several of those cases right here in our area. And now for the first time, we're hearing from someone on the other side of those arrests. A former THP trooper who says pressure from within the agency played a role. We've shown you DUI arrests, drivers taken to jail. >> I ain't drunk anything or anything. No drugs or nothing. >> This is criminal activity. Hiding behind a uniform and a badge. I hate this. This gets all over me, man. >> Only to have those charges dropped later when toxicology proved they were sober. Those cases all had one thing in common. the Tennessee Highway Patrol. But until now, people will naturally wonder why you're speaking out now. So, why do you think it's important to get your story out there? We hadn't heard from anyone on the inside. Because the highway patrol is costing the citizens of the state of Tennessee money because all these people that are in DUI, unlawful arrest, are going to sue the state and the state's going to settle it. So, our money, our tax money is going to cover all of that. >> But you knew that before when you were still this THP officer and now you're coming forward. You didn't answer the question. Why are you coming forward now? Why are you pretending you have a backbone now and that you're going to speak out against tyranny and injustice now? I mean, what tipped the scales for you? >> Former THP trooper Ashley Smith worked the road for more than 2 years. She says what we're seeing now doesn't surprise her. >> I for one have been pressured into making a DUI arrest. That >> I was pressured into committing gross evil and immorality and criminality against the people that I was supposed to be protecting and serving. No. What did they do? Did they put a gun to your head? Do is that what you mean? I was pressured into doing it. Oh, you don't get a paycheck unless you do evil to your neighbor. That's what she's talking about. I've got no respect. I'm glad she's coming forward and I'm glad the truth is coming out from these former road pirates, but why is she doing it now? >> I didn't agree with. But when you hear your captain, surprise her. I for one have been pressured into making a DUI arrest that I didn't agree with. But when you hear your captain say that you do what your supervisor tells you to do, then that's what you do. >> Do what you're told. In other words, I was an order follower. I was a conformist order follower doing what I was told knowing that what I was told to do wasn't right. instead of just exercising my own conscience and my own upbringing. Hopefully, he had a good upbringing and my own morality and acting on that and following my moral compass instead of doing what is right regardless of what I was told cuz I wanted that paycheck. I wanted the plaque on the wall. I wanted to be included in the thin blue line brotherhood of the Fraternal Order of Police. It's evil lady. >> Says those expectations showed up in how troopers were evaluated. This is one internal DUI map obtained by News Channel 9. It shows DUI arrests by county. Smith says troopers were expected to look at these maps and know where they stood. >> I looked at the map and I was so pressured cuz my name wasn't on the top of the list. So, you know what I did? In the following weeks, I stepped it up, man. I harassed more people. I wrote more people up. I put the the torture cuffs on more people. I kidnapped more people. And I caged more people. Yeah. How did your conscience How could you trample your conscience that many times so that you can get your number on the plaque and on the top of the roster. If >> your number wasn't at the top, then you weren't doing good enough. It was DUI, DUI, DUI. Um, you felt the pressure. Smith says another way performance was tracked was in writing. >> How many people How many people's lives did you ruin? How many people are actually sitting in prison right now because of you? How many lost their jobs? How many families were destroyed? How many kids lost their homes? How can you sleep at night? >> Was in writing. In her performance review, you can see troopers are expected to make a certain number of traffic stops per hour when they're not on a call. >> Look at that. Did you see that? Maintain an average of at least two enforcement contacts or traffic stops per hour while on unobligated patrol time. >> We did receive a statement from THP communications. That's even though a THP spokesperson told us they do not have or use quotas for traffic stops, citations, or arrests. >> What a freaking lie. You know they're lying. She knows they're lying. The people at the news crew know they're lying. Everybody knows they're lying, but we continue to let them get away with it. And wait till you watch this Yahoo right here. He's going to lie right straight to the camera. He He really thinks people are stupid. >> There is a quota. Two contacts an hour for unobligated time. That's a quota. >> If it is medical, then he can prove all that. I don't care to lose a court case. Smith says that mindset helps explain how sober drivers end up arrested with the expectation that questions will be sorted out later. The agency is now seeking to descertify Smith, accusing her of helping a family member avoid a DUI arrest. >> Descertify Smith. Smith should have gone, "You don't have to descertify me. I'll descertify myself." Why has she kept up with her certification? She should be so ashamed. She should have publicly burned her uniform while she was in the first time they forced her or told her she needs to meet a quota. She should have gone, "Wait, wait a second. Meet a quota. I That's not what I'm all about. I'm supposed to be protecting people's right to life, liberty, and happiness. That's This isn't conducive to that. Not going to do it." And then get with their other thin blue line buddies and go, "Hey, are you guys going to trample your morality, too? Are you going to sear your own conscience as with a hot iron and just trample on people and ruin their lives? I'm not going to do it. You going to do it? And then they all get together and then they go to the police chief and go, "You know what? We we're placing you under arrest because you wanted to trample people's rights under the color of of fiction. You wanted just to make up reasons for pulling people over." >> Smith denies that allegation and says she's fighting it. A second former trooper who spoke to us but asked to remain anonymous said he felt pressure to make DUI arrest. >> There there he goes. There's the pressure. No, they didn't put a gun to my head. No, they weren't threatening my family, my family's lives to put cement boots on them and throw him in the middle of the lake. They they just uh they said, "Well, you got to meet your quotota. You don't get your paycheck. You don't get to play. You don't get on the top of the roster. So, you got to do it." That's all the pressure they had. That's all it took for you to sell out your fellow man. >> Trooper's fault. Troopers know what they're told. If they don't, it's a suicide towards your career. >> Smith says speaking out comes with a risk, but staying silent would have been worse. But they don't realize what that takes away from the the community and the person and their life. They could lose their jobs. They could lose their career. They could lose their family. Sarah Hower, News Channel 9. >> Here, pull the trigger on that guy. Well, no, I don't want to. You're going to lose your career. Okay. >> New data released after a change in state law shows more than 400 sober DUI arrests in Tennessee in 2024, a nearly 800% increase. Lawmakers say the new transparency could lead to more changes aimed at preventing long for arrests while still keeping impaired drivers off the road. It's now over 600 people representing potentially 600 destroyed families. Now, let's check out this followup about the same thing in the same department. First time today, the head of the THP is answering questions from lawmakers about what WSMV4 Investigates has exposed in our sobering problems investigations. You may remember the last time I tried to talk to Colonel Matt Perry, he got in his car and was driven away. But when he left the hearing today, we were waiting outside. Of everything we've shown you, the THP being the police agency with the highest number of sober DUI arrests, 180 in the latest TBI data, to how sober drivers are having their lives ruined after being arrested. Just constantly, constantly the bad dreams, constantly reliving this experience. [screaming] >> Today, Senator Mark Pod wanted to know about this. how former troopers tell WSMV4 Investigates a quota system exists and the pressure to make DUI arrests is resulting in wrongful arrests. >> This is corruption. We're ruining people's lives. We're being forced to ruin people's lives. >> There was some news articles that were forwarded to me and it has to do with um people being stopped and and actually arrested for DUI, but there was no evidence of that. There's certainly no quota like some of these articles have have pushed. Colonel Oh, I totally believe you, Colonel. No quotas at all. Not here. Hey, did you pull all those guys over that I told you to pull over? Bottom of the list, buddy. No more overtime for you. You better snap it up or you're fired. Matt Perry says his agency is reviewing DUI arrests where the blood work later came back and showed no alcohol or drugs and so far found this. We've not had one that they said, "Yeah, this was somebody that probably shouldn't have been arrested." >> Yep. Yep. No fake DUI arrests here. Let's see. Uh oh, you got some of them. Yeah. I don't No, I don't see any. Nope. No DUI arrests here. What a freaking soldout cowardly liar. >> So, do you think all of these people that have been arrested actually were not sober? >> I I can't answer that. I I haven't reviewed all of them, but none have made it to me saying anything different. >> None. That's when the WSMV guy should have said, "Uh, none. I've got 609 right here." What do you say about this toxic toxicology report? Negative. Negative. Negative. Negative. And yet you guys threw them in a cage. They lost their jobs and their families are on the rocks because of what your troopers did. Your road pirates. Perry says that the TBI blood tests don't test for every drug, but in all of the cases we've uncovered, when the TBI blood work comes back clean, the DUI charge is dropped. >> They're not sober driver. They might have come back with nothing from the TBI lab in their system, but that doesn't make them a sober driver. It >> it totally does. Then why do a breathalyzer? Then why do a field sobriety test? Why even send it off to toxicology? If a negative result does not equal sober driver, then why do any why even pull them over in the first place? Well, if swerving swerving over all over the road doesn't necessarily mean a drunk driver, driving straight between the lines, activating turn signals, and not committing any violations doesn't necessarily mean that guy's sober. I mean, given this guy's mentality, they could come up with any reason to pull you over. >> I've interviewed these people. They were sober at the time that they were arrested. There were no drugs or alcohol in their system. And your agency is showing making the most of these arrests. We do not want anybody arrested, charged that hasn't committed a crime. >> That's a lie. That's a lie. You totally do or you wouldn't have a quota. You know, the quota that you say you don't have. >> So, I I'll say that. >> If it sounds confusing, Perry testified today that the field sobriety tests that the troopers are performing indicate the driver is intoxicated. [laughter] the subjective field sobriety test where the state trooper uh see road pirate is incentivized to nab a person and fill the prison industrial complex that field sobriety test aok okay and that'll indicate if they're sober or not. What a damn lie. But ultimately, if a drug test or alcohol test comes back negative, then the court system um throws the case out or dismisses or pleads it to a lesser charge, then the system works. So, we don't mind interfering with people's lives. We don't mind troubling them. We don't mind them having to take off work, assuming they still have a job, and going and getting tied up in the court system. That's our system at work right here, dude. you could keep it all from happening in the first place and yet you don't. You don't even have systems in place to keep this stuff from happening. The problem is is that people's lives are being ruined in the process. I I hear that and I I don't want anybody's life to be ruined um because we did something wrong since this data has come out. What have you done as an agency to address this issue? >> I mean we were looking at our training. We are >> What have we done? We're looking at our training. Well, that's nothing. >> Looking at these cases, and we're coming up with a system to make sure that we are >> we're coming up with a system. We don't have it yet, but we're we're looking at these cases. We're coming up with a system. In other words, you haven't done a damn thing. You don't care. >> Properly, you know, reviewing everyone. >> Perry says the THP is also reaching out to agencies outside of Tennessee to see how they're conducting field sobriety tests. Doesn't it seem to you like Colonel Matt Perry from the Tennessee Highway Patrol is full of Shiite? Leave your thoughts about this for the world and the global thought police in the comments section below. If you want to support this channel, you can do it for free. Just become a channel member. Uh like this video, share this video, subscribe to the channel, hit the bell notification icon. But more importantly, understand this. The government is the armed, psychopathic, parasitic, narcissistic, lying, thieving, criminal gang you were afraid would take over in the absence of the government you thought was here to protect and serve you. I'll see you in the next