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Drunken driving arrests up in La Plata County

All law enforcement agencies seeing spike so far this year
Area law enforcement are reporting increased drunken driving arrests for the first half of this year compared with last year.

Law enforcement agencies are reporting an increase in the number of drunken driving arrests for the first half of this year compared with last year.

Durango Police Department made 81 arrests for drunken driving January through June 2015 compared with 131 for the same time period this year, a 38 percent increase, said Lt. Ray Shupe, spokesman with the department.

But last year appears to be the anomaly, he said. The Police Department typically makes about 300 arrests per year for drunken driving, but numbers were significantly lower last year, likely because the department was down several patrol officers, Shupe said.

Colorado State Patrol also reported an increase in the number of drunken driving arrests. For the first six months, the agency made 44 arrests in 2014, 62 arrests in 2015 and 87 arrests this year in La Plata County, said Trooper Joshua Lewis.

The La Plata County Sheriff’s Office reported a similar trend for the first six months of those years, with 28 arrests in 2014, 42 arrests in 2015 and 81 arrests in 2016.

The Sheriff’s Office said it is seeing more DUI arrests as a result of putting more patrol officers out during peak times, doing more routine patrols on rural roads and assigning deputies to geographical areas where residents and data suggest increased problems.

“More contacts equals more arrests, including warrant arrests and DUI,” said Dan Bender, spokesman for the agency, in an email.

The La Plata County Jail, which provides detention services to multiple agencies in La Plata and San Juan counties, booked 81 people into jail for DUIs from Jan. 1 to June 30, 2015, and 222 drunken driving suspects for the same time period this year.

shane@durangoherald.com

Oct 26, 2015
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