09/02/2026
๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ซ๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ ๐ฒ๐๐๐ซ ๐ ๐จ๐๐ฅ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐๐๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐ข๐ ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฅ๐ข๐๐ ๐๐๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ญ๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญโ๐ฌ ๐๐๐ ๐ญ๐๐ฌ๐ค ๐๐จ๐ซ๐๐
๐ต๐บ ๐๐๐คโ๐ข๐๐ญ ๐๐๐ช๐๐ฆ๐, ๐๐๐-๐๐, ๐๐ข๐จ๐ข๐ด๐ก 31, 2026 ๐ข๐ก 8:24 ๐ฑ๐ ๐ธ๐๐
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GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. โ Channel 2 Action News investigates controversy surrounding the Gwinnett County Police Department and DUI arrests. We uncovered that one officer had 65 DUI cases thrown out or reduced since April 2025, after his reports and sworn affidavits did not always match what happened on the body camera video.
Channel 2โs Michael Seiden uncovered what a DUI expert witness calls a quota โ encouraging task force members to make 150 DUI arrests a year.
WSB filed an open records request and obtained a letter written by a supervisor in Gwinnett County Policeโs DUI unit. It states the goal for members of the unit is at least 150 DUI arrests a year โ enough to earn the highest award from Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
We talked to a DUI expert witness who believes that kind of system can incentivize bad police work. โI gotta ask you because I can smell it. How much have you had to drink tonight?โ asked officer Matthew Lau on body camera video.
โI had a few,โ replied Anthony Jamison.
That exchange happened at the beginning of Jamisonโs DUI arrest in 2021. But a letter written by a Gwinnett County DUI task force supervisor is raising new questions about the numbers behind these arrests. In a letter of commendation, Cpl. Matthew Lauโs supervisor praised him as a โstatistics leaderโ citing 753 traffic stops, 822 traffic citations and 175 DUI arrests in 2024. But itโs the next paragraph that caught our attention.
โThe goal each year for the members of the DUI unit is obtain at least 150 DUI arrestsโ to earn the highest award from Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
Channel 2 Action News investigates went to MADDโs 2025 awards ceremony where Lau was honored for his 175 DUI arrests. The letter says after Lau reached that mark; he helped other members of the unit achieve their โrespective goals.โ
โAgain, you see the term quota, a lot of agencies use different names for it, performance objectives, those type of things. I think they should not be there. In my personal opinion, it incentivizes bad police work,โ said Matthew Mahlhiot, a DUI expert witness who spent decades in law enforcement.
We obtained personnel records that repeatedly mention the number of DUI arrests and earning MADD awards, along with body camera video, police reports and court records from some of Lauโs arrests and asked Mahlhiot to review them. He said there is nothing wrong with rewarding officers for getting impaired drivers off the road. His concern is measuring success by the number of arrests and not the quality of those arrests.
โYour target is numbers. How many arrests can I make? How many people can I get off the street? And thatโs not the purpose of it. Itโs not to see who can win the most arrests. That, to me, is an improper incentive.
Mahlhiot said there are better ways to track effectiveness including conviction rates and serious crashes. โIf youโre having injury accidents and highway fatalities go down, you know your DUI task force is doing a good job,โ said Mahlhiot.
Anthony Jamison believes Cpl. Lau had already decided he was going to jail.
โYou can really honestly see that I was targeted from that point. He seemed like he had already had his mind made up,โ said Jamison. His DUI charge was dropped in court over differences between what Lau wrote in his reports and search warrant affidavit and what his body camera actually showed.
We found 65 of Lauโs DUI arrests were dismissed or reduced since April 2025.
โThe job is not to make as many arrests as you can. The job is to make the streets safe,โ said Mahlhiot
Anthony Jamison said he would like to see the department make changes. โRetrain, change policies, all of the above, you know, not get awards, not have a quota,โ said Jamison.
Gwinnett County Police say they did an informal review of Cpl. Lauโs DUI arrests and reached nearly all the same conclusions as Lau.
That review found serious mistakes on three search warrant affidavits.
Cpl. Lau is no longer part of the DUI task force but he is still making DUI arrests.