Officers in the Eugene Police Department are now working overtime to crack down on intoxicated drivers.
Thanks to a $10,000 DUII Grant given by the Oregon Association Chiefs of Police, EPD can now devote a total of 24 hours a month to catching drunk drivers, DUII Grant Coordinator Officer Randy Smith said.
Smith said the program will focus on stronger citation enforcement of drinking under the influence of intoxicants and more education for businesses who sell alcohol. He also said there have been more than 500 DUIIs issued in Eugene since January of 2001.
“Part of the program is helping businesses recognizing a visibly intoxicated person and not selling them alcohol or offering to call them a cab,” Smith said. “We’re also hoping to encourage people to use a designated driver or walk home if they would otherwise be driving impaired.”
The grant money will pay officers for their overtime hours when working special DUII shifts. There will be two four-hour shifts a week available for three weeks of every month, Smith said. Smith began the program Friday night and another officer took the shift Saturday night.
“Patrol officers will also be pulling over intoxicated drivers, but now we will have officers who respond only to DUII reports,” he said.
Mothers Against Drunk Driving reported that there were 16,653 people who died in 2000 from alcohol-related traffic accidents, or 40 percent of all traffic accidents. This is up from 38 percent in 1999.
“We’re not discouraging people from having a good time,” EPD Spokeswoman Pam Alejandre said. “But the best thing to do is drink responsibly.”
Alejandre also said that a designated driver is not the person who drank the least that night, but the person who has not had anything to drink.
Karlyn Campbell, an association executive for the Oregon Association Chiefs of Police, said the organization issues more than $600,000 in grants statewide through federal funds from the National Highway Traffic Safety Association.
The grant will not only pay officers for their overtime, but will also subsidize equipment used while they are on DUII patrol.
“We hope to see a reduction in intoxicated drivers,” Campbell said.
MADD Spokeswoman Charlie Durrant said though MADD is not familiar with the particulars of the grant, the organization supports any program EPD institutes in order to stop drunk driving.
The program will run for three weeks out of every month until the end of the year. At that time, the program will be re-evaluated and further grant money will be discussed, Smith said.