There's a human toll to the abuse: In some cases, innocent people get arrested and guilty people go free. By any standard, Gustavo Suarez was not drunk the night that police stopped him in Miami Beach. Suarez's breath-alcohol level tested far below the legal limit, his driving was not erratic, his urine showed no evidence of drugs. But police arrested him for drunk driving anyway. Seven cops claimed to be witnesses. They were Collars for Dollars cops: police officers who pile on to cases, earning overtime money they don't deserve by making unnecessary court appearances. An eight-month Herald investigation documented Collars for Dollars abuse among hundreds of officers in thousands of cases, costing Dade taxpayers millions of dollars. There's more at stake than wasted money. In some cases, The Herald found, the zeal to make DUI arrests can put innocent people behind bars and allow guilty people to go free. "I have no doubt that a signifi cant number of drivers are arrested in Dade County simply because law enforcement officers are looking to profit financially and not because they believe the person is impaired, " said Richard Essen, a top DUI defense lawyer. Miami Beach Police Chief Richard Barreto said he doesn't believe officers are targeting innocent drivers. "I don't think they're arresting people who aren't impaired, " he said. "But they are encouraged to stop people more than they would ordinarily." But consider what happened to Mark Faber, arrested in a DUI roadblock in 1995, even though he was perfectly sober and had not used drugs. As he sat in a mobile police trailer, awaiting his paddy wagon ride to jail, he said the cops were giving each other high-fives. "They were talking about how much overtime they were getting, " said Faber, a 30-year-old Miami Beach proofreader. "They were cheering." Innocent people can end up in jail because passing the breath test for alcohol is not enough to avoid a DUI charge. If police still suspect drivers are impaired, they arrest them for DUI anyway. Then they ask for a drug test, which requires a urine sample. And it takes weeks to get the lab results. Although the number of drivers who are unfairly charged is a small percentage of the total, it is still significant. The Herald found 520 drivers arrested for DUI who blew below .05, the level at which drivers are presumed innocent of driving under the influence. And 53 percent of those cases were dropped. Police officers blame problems at the lab in 1995. "You'd have people admit to doing drugs and it would come back no drugs detected, " said Miami Beach Officer Robert Jenkins. "How do you explain that?" But the lab has improved its tests. And innocent people still get arrested. Martin In January, Claudia Martin was charged with DUI after a car accident. Six Miami police officers were listed as witnesses. The arresting officer wrote in his report that the effects of alcohol on the 28-year-old woman were "obvious." He said he smelled alcohol on her breath. "He said, 'You're drinking, you're drinking, ' " Martin said. She wasn't. She blew zeroes, yet went to jail overnight. Her urine tested free of drugs. "It was a very bad experience, " she said. In a random sample, The Herald found 26 cases in which no drugs were detected in drivers arrested on DUI charges. Their personal stories reveal the human toll. They are jailed overnight, but that is just the beginning. Many spend thousands of dollars in legal fees to clear their records and hundreds of dollars just to get their cars back from the police. Some even pay for independent drug tests. Motivated by money