The AVOID Anti-DUI Program secured a $659,000 grant to fund heightened law enforcement efforts in Sonoma County over the next three years. Administered by the Petaluma Police Department and funded by the California Office of Traffic Safety, the grant will pay for a variety of enforcement operations as well as equipment designed to increase the efficiency of DUI mobilizations.

The Petaluma Police Department's Sergeant Ken Savano announced that Sonoma County law enforcement officers will engage in a number of new or expanded operations, including court stings, sobriety checkpoints, warrant sweeps, saturation patrols and multi-agency task forces. Although all Sonoma County drivers will be subject to the increased police enforcement, those with prior DUI warrants or offences will face particular scrutiny.

Moreover, the funding will enable harsher crackdown policies during the holidays. In addition to expanding traditional mobilizations during the winter holiday season and the Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends, Sonoma County police departments will conduct new operations on Saint Patrick's Day, Cinco de Mayo and Independence Day. Enforcement efforts over the late-summer will be longer as well, lasting from August 21st through September 7th.

In order to maximize the success of the expanded mobilizations, the Petaluma Police Department purchased improved equipment to increase the efficiency of enforcement operations. Among the new additions are a mobile command vehicle that will coordinate crackdowns throughout the county and a van equipped with the tools necessary to gather fingerprints, photographic evidence and run chemical tests at sobriety checkpoints.

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Utah Governor Jon Huntsman announced Tuesday that he would not support a proposal to create a statewide database to track patron's visits to bars within Utah borders. The Governor stated that the proposal would unnecessarily deter tourism at a time when the state is attempting to modernize its' liquor laws and attract a higher number of tourists to the area.

Of the proposed bar database, Governor Huntsman stated, "I think it would enhance the oddness of our laws. I think that for most people that is a rather frightening, almost Orwellian, proposition." Current liquor laws in the state of Utah require every customer to fill out an application and pay a fee to enter an establishment that serves liquor. Despite the fact that bars in Utah are open to the public, they are still considered "private clubs" that only members and sponsored guests may utilize.

The statewide database has been publicized by several members of the state legislature as a way to deter bar hopping while compromising with Governor Huntsman on his proposal to eliminate Utah's private club system. Since taking office in 2005, Huntsman has voiced his opposition to the private club system saying it is a deterrent to tourists as well as people considering moving to the state. According to the Governor, it is time to bring Utah into a modern era where the state trusts those legally allowed to consume alcoholic beverages.

In response to Governor Huntsman's attempts to disassemble the private club system, Utah's bars have offered to scan customer's drivers' licenses but not enter them into a database. Many bar owners recognize that creating a database of bar customers could potentially be as bad for business as the private club system. However, Utah state lawmakers have gone as far as to suggest that the statewide database information could be kept as long as several weeks.

State legislators have attempted to rally support for the bar database by hyping the database's possible usefulness for law enforcement officials in DUI investigations. The problem with this proposal is that the database would not provide information on whether or not alcoholic beverages were purchased at the establishment, only that a person had their license scanned there. However, Senate President Michael Waddoups has suggested, "Perhaps it would be a tool for law enforcement if there was a DUI incident to find out at least the number of establishments that someone had frequented."

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Officials of Centre County, Pennsylvania, have announced plans to launch a brand new division within the county superior court system which is designed specifically to address the needs of driving under the influence (DUI) offenders. The new DUI court has been said to combine punishment as well as treatment into a more effective sentencing alternative in an effort to decrease driving under the influence incidents. Centre County Board of Commissioners Chaiman John Eich predicts that that new DUI Court will reduce the repeat DUI offender rate by as much as ten to fifteen percent.

This special court supervised program, which is funded by grant money from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, is open to individuals guilty of three or more driving under the influence offenses.

The idea for the new DUI program came from the realization that the current method of penalizing DUI offenders has, thus far, been largely unsuccessful. According to Judge Bradley Lunsford, "One of the drawbacks to how we treat repeat offenders now is that we essentially warehouse them. We try to give them some therapeutic intervention, but it's really limited. At the end of the period of incarceration we open the door and release an alcohol dependant person back into the community."

In a departure from previous court programs, the purpose of this program is to help participants reconnect with the community while supporting the offenders on a wide range of individual needs, in addition to addiction. Program Administrator Cathy Arbogast shed light on this new concept, explaining, "A lot of these folks have lost their homes, they don't have a job, they may have physical or mental health disorders. It's hard to expect them to focus on their drug and alcohol treatment when they're dealing with these other things."

The judges and program administrators who will be working in the new DUI court have emphasized that the number one priority of program staff is to create an environment of positive peer pressure in which multiple DUI offenders can succeed and make positive lifestyle changes. "You get rewards for doing what you're supposed to be doing, which could include less community service hours or gift certificates donated from businesses," Arbogast added.

The goal of the DUI court is to encourage the program participants to make lasting lifestyle changes that will hopefully translate into a decrease in DUI numbers. Arbogast emphasized this point by stating, "You will get in more trouble for not showing up with your urine than showing up with a positive sample. Showing up shows you acknowledge you need more treatment. It's a completely different way of thinking."

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