County DUI arrests spike 35 percent

Despite a 35 percent increase in DUI arrests in Sonoma County
over the holiday season, the Windsor police department reported
local DUI arrests remained relatively stable thanks to increased
awareness on the part of drivers.
Windsor Police Traffic Officer Bill Fourshay said while there
were nine DUI arrests in Windsor from mid-December through the New
Year, many drivers contacted by officers were taking appropriate
safety measures.
“It seems like we had fewer (DUIs) and I think it has more to do
with the way people are addressing their partying on New Year’s Eve
because we ran into a lot of people who were doing the right thing
with designated drivers and we ran into people in the Vintana Green
Subdivision with campers and that is where they were going to spend
the night,” he said.
He said the DUI numbers in Windsor are also low because the town
does not have many bars.
“I think the biggest reason we don’t have a lot of DUIs is we
don’t have the bars,” he said. “They all close early, we don’t have
regular drinking establishments that stay open until two in the
morning.”
Fourshay said although the Windsor police department did not
have to raise their DUI enforcement over the holidays, he credits
safer roadways to an overall increase in DUI focus including
education about drunk driving.
“I think the majority of the reason is there was more of an
emphasis put on it by the various police agencies,” he said. “I
think it mostly has to do with education and I think that law
enforcement is doing a better job of getting our message out
there.”
The Windsor Police Department participated in the county-wide
Avoid the 13 campaign, in which all thirteen-law enforcement
agencies in Sonoma County work together to crack down on drunk
drivers during the holiday season.
Avoid the 13 program started on Dec. 14 and ended Jan. 1 and
resulted in 200 DUI arrests said Avoid the 13 public relations
representative Jan Ford. She said that although the number of DUI
arrests are 35% higher than the 2006 holiday season, the larger
numbers do not reflect dramatic changes in law enforcement because
the numbers fluctuate from year to year.
“If you take a slightly longer perspective, two years ago we
were at 182 (DUI arrests in Sonoma County),” she said.
Even so Ford said 200 DUI arrests in 20 days is a significant
safety measure for Sonoma County drivers.
“I consider it newsworthy, it is two hundred loaded guns off the
road,” she said. “Every single one of the two hundred people could
have hurt or killed someone.”
Ford said Avoid the 13 program prepares Sonoma County safety
officers for the increased DUI focus during the holidays with DUI
seminars and training for sobriety checkpoints.
“Clearly we have stepped up enforcement during this campaign
period,” she said. “Officers have their shifts changed from days to
nights, CHP has a maximum enforcement period, some cities will run
in-city DUI points, it is above the normal non-holiday (enforcement
level).”
Santa Rosa’s California Highway Patrol Public Affairs officer
Barbara Upham said CHP also increased their enforcement during the
Avoid the 13 campaign and it is a combination of increased law
enforcement efforts that raised the number of DUI arrests.
She said CHP increased personnel to 80 percent of available
officers, held DUI checkpoints throughout the county and conducted
“saturation patrols” where officers patrol the roadways
specifically looking for drunk drivers in areas with a high volume
of DUI arrests.
Upham said CHP’s increased enforcement efforts in conjunction
with the other 12 law enforcement agencies in Avoid the 13 account
for the large number of arrests and lack of alcohol related
fatalities over the holiday season.
“When you have every law enforcement agency in this county
working together for the same cause, which in this case is removing
the drunk driver, you’re going to have an increased number of
arrests,” she said.
Upham said the CHP made a total of 89 DUI arrests during the 20
Avoid the 13 DUI push. Sebastopol police also reported an increase
in alcohol arrests over the holidays with a total of 11 DUIs.
Healdsburg had only three DUI arrests during the party season.