WHAT IS THE DC-27 AND WHAT DO I DO WITH IT?

If you are arrested for suspicion of DUI based on alcohol consumption and you provide a breath sample that is above the legal limit, or you refuse to provide a breath sample altogether, you will be issued a DC-27 Officer’s Certification and Notice of Suspension form by the arresting officer. It is called this by people in the legal community because it has those numbers on the bottom left hand side of the form. The copy that the officer will give you is pink in color.

If you carefully read the form, you will see that it is essentially a temporary driver’s license. If you want to drive you must have that piece of paper with you. The form will also tell you that the temporary license will expire 30 days after the date it is issued to you by the police officer. So you cannot legally drive after it expires if you do not take the proper steps to combat your license being suspended.

The DC-27 form provides information on how you begin the administrative process to contest the suspension of your license. If you read carefully you will note that once you are issued a DC-27 you only have 14 days to request an administrative hearing. If you miss that timeline, regardless of your excuse, the Department of Revenue will automatically suspend your driver’s license.

When your attorney requests your administrative hearing they will request that the hearing be in person and that the officers be subpoenaed to attend the hearing. This will give you the best opportunity to prevail at the hearing. If you do not specifically request that the hearing be in person and that the officers be required to attend, the hearing will be conducted via telephone and you will have a lower likelihood of success. Most attorneys that handle DUI cases will represent you both in the administrative hearing and the criminal case.

Here is an example of a DC-27, with some notations that outline common mistakes officers make. Some of these mistakes will result in a dismissal of the administrative action and a return of your driver’s license. Other mistakes are able to be corrected at the hearing by officer testimony and will not result in a suspension standing alone.