One month after his third DUI conviction, Lovell Johnson was arrested again for drunk driving. He faced a mandatory jail term, but was sentenced to house arrest instead. The reason: Johnson was arrested by Collars for Dollars cops. Seven Metro-Dade officers participated in the case. Four did little or nothing. Metro-Dade Officer Ignacio Alvarez spotted Johnson swerving and driving on the wrong side of the road on Northwest 191st Street on Feb. 25, 1995. Johnson was driving with a suspended license. He smelled of alcohol and had bloodshot eyes. He slurred when he spoke. Alvarez gave Johnson a roadside sobriety test. At the Miami Lakes substation, Officer Joseph Meyer asked Johnson to take a breath test. He refused. The case entered Dade's clogged court system, a system made worse by Collars for Dollars. Three times, Johnson's case was set for trial. Each time, it was postponed. Each time, some of the seven cops appeared, earning overtime money. The fourth time, Officer Meyer did not show up. Alvarez did, but he could not remember the case. Without Meyer and with Alvarez's faulty memory, the prosecutor could not seek the maximum penalty. Instead of jail, Johnson was sentenced to 270 hours of house arrest and lost his license for life. Taxpayers paid $809 in overtime to the officers. THE LUCK RUNS OUT -- AND A LESSON LEARNED

Whelan When it comes to DUIs, Julie Whelan knows the system. She lost her license in 1984 for drunk driving. But she got luckier in 1995. The state dismissed another DUI charge because the cops didn't show up. And then last year, she encountered seven Miami Beach police officers, four who had no essential role in the case. She was speeding in a green Datsun on Pinetree Drive. Officer Jamie Rezzonico said she nearly crashed. When she got out of the car, she seemed drunk. Another officer gave a roadside test. Two sergeants appeared on the scene. So did a field training officer, with a rookie in tow. "They just showed up. I don't know what they were doing. First one, then a whole bunch of them, " Whelan said. Two of the officers drove Whelan to the station, where she refused a breath test from Officer Guillermo Berrier. Twice, the case was set for trial. The second time, none of the officers were around when the judge called the case. The prosecutor beeped the cops, but it was too late. The judge dismissed the charges. Five of the cops, however, were somewhere in the courthouse. Their overtime cost about $907. The state refiled the charges, but the case was dismissed again. By then, Whelan had been caught drunk and behind the wheel again. This time, the 40-year-old Bal Harbour woman encountered three Metro-Dade police officers. She was convicted and lost her license for a year. Today, she has learned her lesson. "I think people shouldn't drink and drive, " she said. THE ENGINEER MISCALCULATES

Pryor Rosser Pryor, a Georgia engineer, was on a business trip to Miami Beach. He figured that because he was overweight, it was safe to drink six beers in a five-hour period and still drive. "I'm an engineer. I know how to calculate things. My wife gives to MADD. My attitude is it's illegal to drive drunk. It's not illegal to drive after a few drinks." But on a June night in 1995, Pryor miscalculated. He was driving a rental car in South Beach when he saw three police cars parked outside a club. They were Collars for Dollars cops on a traffic stop. "I steered to the left to avoid the cops at the side of the road, " he said. The cops claimed he was driving recklessly. They pulled him over, asked him to do a roadside test and decided he was impaired. At the police station, Pryor took the breath test. He blew a .122, over the legal limit. He won his case anyway. He could thank the five Collars for Dollars cops who eventually piled on to the case. Questioned by Pryor's lawyer, Officer David Williams admitted that he could not remember any details of the roadside test that he conducted. So the judge threw out the arrest. The arresting officer, Mario Rojo, could have done the test himself. He had eight years of experience doing DUI arrests. "Had Officer Williams not been there, would you have done the roadsides?" attorney Jose Fernandez asked Rojo. "I would have done them, " Rojo responded. The victory was hollow. Pryor said he spent $5,000 on legal fees and had to fly to Miami four times, once each time the case was set for trial. The police earned $936 in overtime pay. "It was bad police work, " Pryor said. "Having that many didn't help their case. It gave me an opportunity."

Herald Research Editor Dan Keating contributed to this report.

BEER, LIES AND OVERTIME PAY SIX METRO-DADE COPS UNECESSARILY SPLIT THE POLICE WORK IN THE CASE WHEN HIALEAH COMPUTER PROGRAMMER ANDRES GONZALEZ WAS ARRESTED LAST DECEMBER FOR DRUNK DRIVING. GONZALEZ, 35, HAD DOWNED FIVE CORONA BEERS, REGISTERING .141 AND .152 ON THE BREATH-ALCOHOL TESTS. A JURY ACQUITTED GONZALEZ IN APRIL AFTER TWO OF THE OFFICERS TOLD DRAMATICALLY DIFFERENT STORIES ON THE WITNESS STAND ABOUT THE CIRCUMSTANCES LEADING TO HIS ARREST. THEIR POSSIBLE MOTIVATION, ACCORDING TO GONZALEZ'S LAWYER: EARNING OVERTIME PAY.

THE POLICE REPORTOfficer Sanabria wrote the police report. It said that Officer David Graham saw Gonzalez -- known in police parlance as the defendant -- "urinating in the parking lot. When Graham approached the man, he "jumped into his vehicle and sped away" almost hitting other cars in the lot. The defendant wasn't stopped until Graham "utilized his emergency equipment." THE TRIAL When the Gonzalez case went to trial, Officer Graham denied that he ever told Sanabria that Gonzalez "sped through the parking lot" or that he "almost struck other vehicles in the parking lot." He said he didn't write the arrest form. But Officer Sanabria told a different story when he testified. He said he wrote the arrest narrative, which included the incident about the speeding car in the parking lot. "This is all from what Officer Graham told me, " he said. THE DEFENDANT "I didn't even get inside the car. I urinated on the parking lot. I should have gotten a ticket for that. But if you're urinating, how can you drive? You'd urinate inside the car.....They were lying." THE JUDGECounty Court Judge Wendell Graham "Completely different testimony between one officer and the other, and the jury saw that. Juries are great. I love jury trials. Ninety-nine percent of the time, they come to the right conclusion." THE OVERTIME The Collars for Dollars cops earned $929 in overtime pay for their work in the case. Told of the different accounts offered by his officers under oath, Metro-Dade Police Director Carlos Alvarez said he was going to refer the incident to internal affairs. "The whole scenario is inappropriate. It's very bothersome, " he said.