Law enforcement agencies across the Bay Area have indicated that this New Years Eve yielded twice as many driving under the influence arrests as were made this time last year. Officer Hugo Mendoza of the California Highway Patrol's Golden Gate Division stated that officers arrested eighty four motorists for driving under the influence between 6:00 p.m. December 31 and 6:00a.m. January 1. For the same period last year, forty one individuals were arrested under suspicion of drunken driving across the Bay Area.
Oddly enough, the California Highway Patrol reported a drop in DUI arrests during the Christmas enforcement period compared to the number of arrests made last year during the same time period. This year, the CHP arrested one hundred eighty six drivers in the Bay Area between midnight on Christmas Eve and 6 a.m. on December 28. Last year, two hundred thirty six arrests were made.
Of the dramatic upswing in DUI arrests, Officer Mendoza speculated, "A couple days later, now it's way up compared to last year. It's kind of weird. Maybe people were not drinking during Christmas and decided to go out during New Year's."
Beginning December 12th, as part of the California Avoid Program, one hundred twenty five separate law enforcement agencies rallied to produce nearly twenty five hundred driving under the influence arrests. The California Avoid Program is an annual holiday drunk driving crackdown which typically yields the highest levels of DUI arrests seen all year.
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The California Highway Patrol (CHP) and local law enforcement across California have announced a dramatic increase in the number of DUI patrols which will be conducted this holiday weekend. In most instances, checkpoints will be set on major routes which lead in and out of cities. Additional officers will also be conducting roving patrols within city limits. In addition to screening for potential drunk drivers, officers will also be keeping an eye out for speeders and seatbelt violations.
"Thanksgiving always produces a high volume of traffic; therefore, the CHP intends to provide as much visibility as possible in order to ensure a safe holiday weekend," states Captain Christina Manriquez, commander of the Santa Cruz area CHP office.
The CHP's Thanksgiving Maximum Enforcement Period, which puts every available officer on the road, is set to begin tonight at six and run through Sunday night at midnight. Last year during California's Thanksgiving Maximum Enforcement Period, there were forty one fatalities stemming from 4,337 traffic collisions. More than half of the accidents involved individuals who had been driving under the influence.
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On Monday, an undercover sting operation was set up outside of the Oakland Superior Court designed to catch individuals driving with suspended licenses. The plan revolved around several undercover Oakland police officers sitting in court in order to establish who had their license suspended. After determining who was ordered by the judge to cease driving, the undercover officers relayed descriptions of the individuals to police officers outside the courthouse. Those officers than stood by to follow the individuals with suspended licenses out of the courthouse in order to determine whether the individuals would choose to drive regardless of their suspended license.
While several individuals chose to abide by the suspension and take public transportation home, six other individuals were caught driving home from court. The individuals identified by law enforcement officers as driving with a suspended license will have their vehicles impounded for thirty days and will also be responsible for paying the impound, tow, and administrative fees.
Recently, law enforcement officers have begun to recognize that just because an individual has their license suspended does not necessarily mean they are going to abide by that instruction. In a specific case which occurred yesterday, Wilbert Ballard chose to drive home after being told by the judge that his driving privileges were suspended. Of Mr. Ballard's situation, Sergeant Mark Dunakin stated, "He was told he didn't have the right to drive, that his privilege to drive was taken away or suspended. Even after this case, he decided to go back to his car parked a block from court and try to drive home."
Spokesman for the Oakland Police Department, Officer Jeff Thomason, stated that undercover stings, such as the one that took place on Monday, are necessary steps in order to decrease the number of vehicle related accidents that take place in Oakland every year. According to reports, approximately 14,000 accidents occur every year in Oakland and about a third of those accidents are hit and run crashes which involve unlicensed or uninsured drivers.
Sergeant Dunakin said that in some circumstances, drivers arrested in similar sting operations attempt to argue that the judge assigned to their case never told them that they were not allowed to drive. However, upon finding out that plainclothes officers had been stationed in the courtroom during the judge's instructions, the individuals typically abandon that argument rather quickly.
This sting operation is the fifth of its kind staged by the Oakland Police designed to catch individuals driving with suspended licenses. Additionally, local police officers have also begun to catch individuals driving with suspended licenses at DUI checkpoints. Last Friday on International Boulevard in Oakland, police officers made only three DUI arrests but caught forty four motorists driving with suspended licenses.
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Several counties across California have received sizeable grants from the California Office of Traffic Safety (COTS) in order to heighten DUI enforcement efforts and expand education programs for the public. Three counties in particular, Los Angeles County, Orange County, and Humboldt County, are receiving heightened press attention for their proposed changes to existing DUI prevention programs.
In Los Angeles County, the Glendora Police Department has been awarded more than $1.5 million in order to coordinate drunk driving enforcement throughout the Southern California region this holiday season. For the fourth year in a row, the Glendora Police Department has been designated as the "host" department for the Los Angeles county's "Avoid the 100" program. Glendora received the second largest of five grants awarded this year in connection with the "Avoid the 100" DUI enforcement program.
Most of the funding for the "Avoid the 100" DUI prevention program is targeted towards educating the public on the dangers of driving drunk, as opposed to utilizing the funds in order to arrest more individuals found to be driving under the influence. However, some of the money will be earmarked for increased numbers of police checkpoints, warrant sweeps, and blood alcohol testing equipment. According to local police, this grant could not come at a better time of year because the holiday season tends to accumulate the highest number of drunk driving fatalities.
Glendora police program coordinator, Wendy Soos, and California Office of Traffic Safety spokesman, Chris Cochran, both stated that they believe that the "Avoid the 100" program has been highly effective at reducing driving under the influence related accidents and fatalities since its establishment in 1973. Cochran even credited the "Avoid" for the 6.7% decrease in DUI related fatalities in California in 2007. Soos voiced her approval of the increased funding of the "Avoid" program, stating that, "If you can educate (the public) and stop somebody from killing someone, then you've done your job."
Further south, the Costa Mesa police department in Orange County received a $300,000 grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety in order to increase the number of DUI checkpoints, saturation patrols, and sting operations executed next year. More specifically, the funds will be targeted towards conducting warrant searches and stakeouts for repeat DUI offenders and for stakeouts outside of local courthouses in order to determine whether individuals convicted of driving under the influence and who have had their licenses suspended, are following the law.
In Northern California, the Eureka Police Department in Humboldt County was provided with a $49,000 grant to assist in reducing the number of individuals injured in alcohol and drug related collisions. Eureka Police Department traffic officer Gary Witmer voiced his approval of the grant, stating that the funding was long overdue, "Our DUI collisions are high and our DUI arrests are low. It's amazing how bad our rankings are." According to statistics for 2007 provided by the California Office of Transportation, 177 of 1,072 traffic collisions in Humboldt County were alcohol related.
One of the main problems Witmer cited in Eureka's DUI prevention campaign was a shortness of funds to pay for additional personnel. While the grant will not lead to the hiring of additional officers, the money will instead be used to pay overtime to officers involved in DUI enforcement programs and patrols.
One of the methods that the Eureka Police Department plans to implement in order to cut down on drunk driving violations is to implement sting operations in court. As part of this proposal, plainclothes officers will sit in on traffic court proceedings in order to determine who has DUI related offenses. The officers will then trail the suspects to the court parking lot to investigate whether the individual is violating their license suspension. Witmer has even suggested that officers will, in the future, be instructed to stake out the homes of habitual DUI offenders in order to make sure that the individuals do not get behind the wheel of a car.
In support of these proposed DUI enforcement measures, Eureka Police Chief Garr Nielsen stated that, "The Eureka Police Department has a zero tolerance policy relative to this crime and has established the enforcement of DUI laws as one of our highest priorities."
Ultimately, as these three counties illustrate, these grants translate into dramatically heightened DUI enforcement procedures, which will most certainly be observed across California in the coming months, especially during the holiday season.
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In Columbus, Ohio, three Highway Patrol sergeants and nine Highway Patrol troopers have been fired for allegedly cheating on a written alcohol detection device test. Troopers are required to take a fifty question multiple choice test annually in order to demonstrate that they can properly operate a breathalyzer. Typically, ninety nine percent of test takers pass the test.
The suspected cheating took place at the Highway Patrol's Canton post in Jackson Township in March 2007. Investigators believe that cheat sheets were used during the test and after the cheating was discovered, the officers lied about the circumstances surrounding the cheating. Eleven of the twelve officers fired came from the forty person Canton post.
The Ohio Inspector General launched an investigation into the potential cheating after an inspector for the Ohio Bureau of Alcohol and Drug Testing reported that while he was proctoring the required test, he caught several troopers cheating off of a cheat sheet. One of the troopers later admitted to making a copy of the cheat sheet when the proctor left the room. He then distributed copies of the cheat sheet to other troopers scheduled to take the test in the following months.
The fired troopers were placed on paid leave in August and officers from neighboring counties were called in to provide assistance to the Highway Patrol's Canton post. As a result of the firings, Jackson Township post commander Lieutenant Eric Sheppard says that the remaining troopers now spend nearly all of their time responding to traffic accidents and motorist requests. Time allocated to other trooper activities such as speeding deterrence, presence in crime ridden neighborhoods, and DUI checkpoints has had to be severely curtailed. The suspended officers underwent pre-disciplinary hearings on August 29, where recommendations for the twelve officers involved were made.
The firings have had a powerful impact on the status of a number of court cases which rely on the troopers whose employment is now in jeopardy. According to Canton City Prosecutor Frank Forchione, with the certifications of so many troopers in doubt, convictions in up to seventy cases could be overturned.
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On September 2, the San Rafael City Council voted to accept state Office of Traffic safety grant money in order to continue support of a controversial drunk-driving program which relies on checkpoints to screen for individuals driving under the influence and individuals driving without valid driver's licenses. Two grants were up for consideration before the five member board, a $577,154 grant which would fund the countywide AVOID the Marin 13 Campaign, which would last through 2012, and a San Rafael specific grant for $94,189 to support drunk driving enforcement through September 30, 2009.
The debate which initiated Tuesday night's City Council meeting arose over a Canal neighborhood checkpoint occurring on June 13, 2008, which activists argued was a racially motivated checkpoint installed to locate and detain unlicensed illegal immigrants. During the checkpoint, the San Rafael Police Department arrested forty-seven drivers between the hours of 6pm and 11pm at the checkpoint set up at the intersection of East Francisco Boulevard and Grand Avenue. The checkpoint was then moved to Irwin Street between Fourth and Fifth Avenue until 1:30am. Four of the forty-seven arrested drivers were booked for driving under the influence, while thirty-nine were arrested for driving without a valid license.
The San Rafael Police Department has denied allegations that the checkpoints are even remotely motivated by race, stating instead that the Canal neighborhood had been chosen as a checkpoint location based on statistics regarding traffic accidents and drunk driving arrests. According to the authorities, the checkpoints are legal and necessary in order to combat driving under the influence.
While the approval of funding for the checkpoints was unanimous, certain members of the five member council were still uneasy about the expansion of the checkpoints to include the check for valid driver's licenses. Councilman Greg Brockbank voiced his concern over the idea, but stated that it would be far too divisive within the community if local law enforcement was to call off the checkpoint efforts. As a precaution, city officials have stated that they plan to maintain continuous communication with the City council, community members, and Canal community groups, in order to alleviate local friction.
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The California Highway Patrol has reported that the number of traffic deaths over the Labor Day weekend dropped sharply since last year. The California Highway Patrol is attributing this drop in DUI related fatalities to an increase in police crackdown as part of the regional AVOID DUI Campaign conducted this past weekend. U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters stated prior to the long weekend that the U.S. Department of Transportation had earmarked thirteen million dollars for advertising Labor Day weekend in order to deliver the message, "Drunk Driving. Over the Limit. Under Arrest."
While the number of DUI related fatalities dropped fifty percent since last years' Labor Day weekend, decreasing from forty six deaths across California to twenty three, the number of driving under the influence arrests increased slightly. As of midnight, Sunday, August 31, California Highway Patrol officers had arrested one thousand four hundred and sixteen drivers statewide for driving under the influence of either drugs or alcohol, compared to last year where at the end of the long weekend, one thousand four hundred and six people had been arrested. In the Bay Area, three hundred and seventy seven arrests were made, which is slightly lower than last year's statistics.
This drop in traffic fatalities has also been identified on a larger scale nationwide, where last week, the new national figures collected by the U.S. Department of Transportation showed a significant drop in the number of DUI related fatalities. U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters reported that while these statistics are encouraging, the number of DUI related fatalities among motorcyclists is climbing in number.
Secretary Peters provided statistics which revealed that last year, approximately thirteen thousand people were killed in accidents where one of the vehicle operators had been driving with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.8 of higher. The number of DUI related fatalities in 2007 saw nearly a four percent drop in DUI related fatalities since 2006, where thirteen thousand four hundred and ninety one people's lives were claimed.
According to the California Highway Patrol, the successful decrease in the number of DUI related fatalities seen over the holiday weekend has been attributed to increased police activity through DUI checkpoints and Saturation Patrols, in addition to higher gas prices, increased numbers of public education campaigns addressing driving under the influence, and the use of alternative forms of transportation.
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On Thursday, August 27, Manatee County Sheriff Brad Steube announced that his department and Florida's local Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) chapters are partnering up in an unprecedented program planned to launch this Labor Day weekend. The program places volunteer MADD observers on the side of local roadways and highways in order to observe traffic and report potential drunk drivers. This additional level of security will be utilized in conjunction with specially scheduled DUI checkpoints and Saturation Patrols.
MADD's program, aptly titled the Traffic Observation Program (TOP), is the first of its kind in the nation and will serve as a pilot program lasting for the duration of six months. After six months, the program's success, based on response times, percent of arrests, and number of observations and interceptions, will be assessed.
Participants in the Traffic Observation Program will be paired into teams of two and will be given the task of observing oncoming traffic on local roadways and highways for signs of impairment from unmarked, civilian vehicles. If a driver is suspected of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, the MADD volunteers will report the vehicle to the Sheriff's department for further investigation. MADD Volunteer Leader LaVonne Bower states that MADD observers have received specialized in-class and ride-along training in order to be able to properly identify individuals suspected of driving under the influence.
While the Traffic Observation Program is being launched on Labor Day weekend, the MADD volunteers have no intention of isolating their roadside observations to holidays or weekends. The roadside teams will be on the road every weekend, in addition to several nights during the week, for the next six months, until the success of the program can be properly evaluated.
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According to California Highway Patrol (CHP), this Labor Day weekend the Maximum Enforcement Period (MEP) will begin at 6 p.m. on Friday, August 29, and will last until midnight on Monday, September 1. Beginning sixty years ago, the CHP, in response to legislative, public, and media based pressures, initiated a program entitled the Maximum Enforcement Period in order to combat the escalated levels of roadway accidents and deaths often seen during holidays. After compiling traffic accident and fatality statistics for the state of California, the first CHP commissioner, Clifford Peterson, decided in 1948 that the CHP needed to take additional steps during major holidays in order to offset the growing number of accidents.
The CHP identified six major holidays in which to provide extra monitoring, including the upcoming Labor Day weekend. During these Maximum Enforcement Periods, nearly eighty percent of local CHP officers are assigned to duty in order to provide extra monitoring for potential reckless driving. This weekend, one can expect that all available officers from the Bay Area's twelve CHP county offices will be on the road and participating in these heightened security measures. The CHP will also be utilizing DUI checkpoints in order to cut down on the number of impaired drivers on the road.
During this long weekend, CHP officers will be attempt to identify violators of three major causes of roadway accidents which include individuals who are not wearing seatbelts, individuals who are speeding, and individuals suspected of driving under the influence or either drugs or alcohol.
Last Labor Day weekend, the CHP reported that both DUI arrests and fatalities had fallen from statistics collected in previous years. Between Friday, August 31, 2007 and Tuesday, September 4, 2007, five hundred individuals were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, a number which decreased from five hundred and seventy eight arrests during the same period in 2006. There was also a significant decrease in the number of DUI related deaths, dropping to two DUI related deaths in 2007 after four DUI related fatalities were reported in 2006 during the Labor Day holiday weekend.
In addition to the CHP labeling Labor Day weekend as a Maximum Enforcement Period, this weekend is also considered an Operation Combined Accident Reduction Effort (C.A.R.E.) which focuses its' efforts on increased officer presence on Interstate highways such as I-5 and I-80.
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