ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. – Effective immediately, an on-call St. Louis County prosecutor is ready to respond to any DUI stop where a driver refuses a breathalyzer.

“We are now a no-refusal county,” St. Louis County Prosecutor Melissa Price Smith said.

Smith spoke to FOX 2 about the new policy as she was surrounded by Highway Patrol, Hazelwood Police and Mothers Against Drunk Driving (M.A.D.D.).

“We are taking a stronger stance,” Smith said. “We will entertain search warrants for a blood test any time that an impaired driver refuses to blow.”

She says it also applies to drivers who get behind the wheel high or under the influence of other substances.

“Many lives are going to be saved because of this and the message that is being sent to people who might be driving impaired is it’s not going to be tolerated in St. Louis County,” Tabitha Perkins of M.A.D.D. added.

Survivors, with pictures of their lost loved ones, were also there in support.

“We call it the club that no one wants to belong to,” Perkins commented.

A defense attorney we consulted called the new plan daunting, because of the manpower it’ll take.

“It’s always kind of been thought that larger jurisdictions can’t handle the volume,” Matt Fry said.

Only Franklin, Washington and St. Genevieve Counties in our viewing area currently have this policy.

Fry believes it could hurt the number of cases convicted.

“…potentially because there’s more to attack,” he said.

Fry says he’s also seen examples where nurses will not cooperate – telling an officer “…I will not forcibly take their blood because now you’re looking at violations of their rights and the hospital getting sued.”

“What if there’s a search warrant for it though?” FOX 2 asked.

Fry answered, “They still won’t take it – several hospitals.”

“The goal is to make St. Louis County safer, and this is a big step in our partnership with M.A.D.D. and law enforcement to do that,” said Prosecutor Smith believes it’s worth the hard work.

We’ll follow up to see if there’s an impact on cases.

If you’re interested in connecting with M.A.D.D., they’re holding a special event Sunday morning in Creve Coeur Park. To learn more about that, click here.