However, it’s your enforcement effort on the ground that will make or break the impaired driving crackdown this year. We urge you to come out in force and participate in a highly visible way this August 18 through September 4.
It’s easy to get started. Go to www.enforcementsaveslives.org and pledge your support now. Then visit www.stopimpaireddriving.org for tools and resources that will help you make the Labor Day 2006 campaign the most successful impaired driving crackdown ever.
Turning Back the Tide — An All-Out Effort Is Needed
Alcohol-related fatalities involving drivers with a .08 BAC or higher declined by 2.4 percent in 2003, and by an additional 2.4 percent in 2004. However, early projections for 2005 indicate a 1.7 percent increase in such fatalities.
To regain momentum in the fight against impaired driving and impaired riding — and to move the numbers once again in the right direction — we need law enforcement agencies and safety organizations in all States to actively participate in the 2006 crackdown.
Building on an Impressive History of Public Service
In 2005, 11,473 law enforcement agencies made the commitment to participate in the National Impaired Driving Law Enforcement Crackdown, including State police, State patrol, municipal agencies, and sheriffs’ offices, as well as tribal, military, and university campus police. The total number represented an increase of 1,800 agencies (nearly a 20-percent jump over the previous year), with much of the increase attributed to municipal agencies and sheriffs’ offices.
This year’s crackdown effort is fully supported by a number of national organizations, including:
- International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP)
- State Associations of Chiefs of Police (SACOP)
- Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD)
- Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA)
- National Sheriffs’ Association (NSA)
- National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
Everyone’s Efforts Are Important — What’s Your Role?
Everyone can contribute to the new National Impaired Driving Law Enforcement Crackdown. While the increased law enforcement activity takes place August 18 through September 4, supporting activities should begin in early August. So make plans now to get involved.
Here are just a few ways that people within law enforcement, criminal justice, and highway safety organizations, as well as grassroots supporters, can lend a hand.
Law Enforcement
- Commit to participate in the crackdown and announce your plans to the public at least one week before the crackdown begins;
- Remember to inform prosecutors, judges, and other court officials of planned increases in enforcement, so they can anticipate increases in their caseloads;
- Conduct or participate in Saturation Patrols and Sobriety Checkpoints, especially on weekend nights during the crackdown period (August 18 – September 4);
- Make the public more aware of your efforts by putting up signs and conducting “happy hour” operations;
- Consider increasing the number of checkpoints by using low-staffing or mobile-awareness checkpoints;
- Issue weekly news releases on the number of impaired driving arrests made during the crackdown, and put out a final news release summarizing total DUI arrests made during the crackdown period, as well as arrests made for other violations.
Criminal Justice
- Ensure that prosecutors have been trained and are familiar with current law enforcement protocols;
- Participate in crackdown media events alongside law enforcement.
Highway Safety Advocates and Grassroots Supporters
- Encourage your local law enforcement agencies to participate in the crackdown;
- Publicize your support for increased local law enforcement activities, and call for increased prosecution of impaired drivers;
- Support law enforcement during operations (even if only by providing coffee and handing out brochures!);
- Recognize local law enforcement and public prosecutors for a job well done.
Choosing the Right Tools to Back Your Efforts
Whether your crackdown role involves communications, enforcement, highway safety advocacy, or criminal justice support, you can find a wide range of Drunk Driving. Over the Limit. Under Arrest. campaign materials online at www.stopimpaireddriving.org.
Key resources for law enforcement and criminal justice participants include:
- The Visual Detection of DWI Motorists
- The Detection of DWI Motorcyclists
- Saturation Patrols and Sobriety Checkpoints Guide
- Low-Staffing Sobriety Checkpoints
- The ABCs of BAC
- Creating Impaired Driving General Deterrence: Eight Case Studies of Sustained High-Visibility, Impaired Driving Enforcement
- A Guide to Sentencing DWI Offenders – 2nd Edition
Want to get the word out about the crackdown? Visit www.stopimpaireddriving.org to download the 2006 High-Visibility Enforcement Media Planner, which includes the following resources:
- Sample news release
- Sample fact sheet & talking points
- Sample op-ed piece
- Sample letter to the editor
Join the Crackdown Force
Demonstrate your commitment to the Drunk Driving. Over the Limit. Under Arrest. enforcement effort. Act now to ensure law enforcement in your locality is highly visible and well publicized. Only with your support can we reverse the rising number of impaired driving fatalities in communities across America.
For more Drunk Driving. Over the Limit. Under Arrest. crackdown information and resources, visit www.stopimpaireddriving.org today!
