DUI crackdown yields surprise for Lakewood cops

Sobriety checkpoint results surprise Lakewood police.

LAKEWOOD – Police found an unexpected result from the “100 Days of Heat” campaign, law enforcement’s statewide crackdown on drunken driving: surprisingly few arrests compared with the large number of drivers processed through DUI checkpoints.

“The numbers for the checkpoints surprised all of us by being so low,” said Lakewood Police Department spokesman Steve Davis. “It was a pleasant surprise.”

At the campaign’s last local rolling checkpoint operated by the LPD the Jeffco Sheriff’s Office and the Wheat Ridge Police Department, officers stopped more than 3,000 drivers and fewer than two in every 100 drivers were arrested.

“It was just phenomenally low, the number of arrests we made out of 3,000 stops is very, very few,” Davis said, adding that a review of all the local checkpoints “100 Days of Heat” checkpoints indicates similar low rates of arrests.

“We were pleasantly surprised by the low numbers. There’s a lot manpower (on duty) out there and you create a lot of traffic problems, but we can’t stop doing them,” Davis said. “If it’s a deterrent and it’s working that well, let’s keep it up.  

At the “100 days of Heat” DUI checkpoints, Lakewood made a total of 14 DUI arrests and Jeffco deputies logged another 23.

Lakewood police logged a total of 256 DUI arrests over the period from Memorial Day to Labor Day, including the 22 made at the DUI checkpoints. Comparative numbers for past years weren’t available for the city, but Jeffco officers logged 23 arrests at checkpoints last summer and 17 the year before that.  

The Colorado State Patrol credits the statewide campaign with cutting in half the number of alcohol-related deaths on Colorado roadways during the summer. From Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend, 36 people were killed in suspected alcohol-related crashes, compared with 71 during the same time period in 2008, according to preliminary data from the CSP.

None of this summer’s 36 alcohol-related fatalities occurred during the heavily traveled Labor Day weekend.

During the“100 Days of Heat” crackdown more than 3,515 people were arrested on DUI charges statewide.

“This summer’s level of DUI enforcement was unprecedented and resulted in the arrest of an average of 32 drunk drivers each day. Through cooperation of law enforcement agencies across the state, we have removed these dangerous drivers from the roadways, and we know lives have been saved,” said Col. James Wolfinbarger, chief of the Colorado State Patrol.

“But we also remember that 36 people were killed needlessly this summer, and we will continue our efforts no matter what the season, month or holiday to eliminate Colorado’s deadliest crime,” Wolfinbarger said.

The campaign’s Memorial Day weekend start netted 599 DUI arrests across the state, according to CSP figures. Another 593 DUI arrests over the Fourth of July weekend, and 582 arrests were made at sobriety checkpoints during the non-holiday periods. 

And the 18-day “Drunk Driving. Over the Limit. Under Arrest” campaign, which started Aug. 21 and continued through Labor Day Weekend, resulted in DUI charges against 1,762 people, an average of 98 people each day.

“We believe that the high level of enforcement over the summer has played a part in the record-low number of people killed by impaired drivers,” said Michael Nugent, manager of the Colorado Department of Transportation’s Office of Transportation Safety

In addition to jail time, drivers arrested for DUI face stiff fines, court costs and other fees that could cost more than $10,270.

The state’s Law Enforcement Assistance Fund (L.E.A.F) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration funded the “100 Days of Heat” campaign.