Drunken driving arrests were up statewide over the Fourth of July weekend compared with 2015, according to the Colorado Department of Transportation.
Law enforcement agencies made 312 DUI arrests July 1-5, an increase from the 288 recorded in 2015 over the summer holiday weekend.
“It’s unfortunate that impaired drivers make bad decisions to put themselves and others on the road in danger,” Col. Scott Hernandez, chief of Colorado State Patrol, said in a release.
The release said 90 agencies participated in the enforcement period.
On a local level, DUI numbers were low.
The La Plata County Sheriff’s Office recorded no DUI infractions, compared with one for the 2015 holiday weekend, said Brenda Tebrink, officer manager for the Sheriff’s Office. However, since July 8, the Sheriff’s Office has made five DUI arrests.
Durango’s Colorado State Patrol troopers were slightly busier with impaired drivers.
“We got four people off the road that shouldn’t have been there, we should be happy with that,” Capt. Adrian Driscoll said.
That’s about average for DUI charges given out over the Fourth of July weekend in Driscoll’s time in Durango, he said. ”We had about 30 hours of overtime that we doled out, so four DUIs in 30 hours isn’t great, but it’s not that bad either.”
To pay for overtime and increased staffing during busy times of year, CSP applies for additional CDOT funding, which allows local agencies to crack down on drunken drivers, Driscoll said. “They basically control the federal funds and then dole them out to the local agencies.”
In Durango, this resulted in CSP staffing three extra officers over the holiday weekend, two of which assisted San Juan County Sheriff’s Office at the annual Fourth of July celebration in Silverton. The funds can also be used to staff DUI checkpoints, which is something local law enforcement agencies are hoping to coordinate in the near future.
“We are working on a solution for that with Durango PD and the Sheriff’s Office,” Driscoll said. “We all want to do one. We just haven’t had the planning in place for it.”
The Durango Police Department did not respond to calls seeking comment for this story.
Luke Perkins is a full-time student at Fort Lewis College and an intern at The Durango Herald. Reach him at lukep@durangoherald.com.
