If busy cops mean safe streets, a select number of Chicago-area communities can find some solace in a new survey of drunken-driving arrests.
According to an Alliance Against Intoxicated Motorists study of arrests for driving under the influence, police departments in Rockford, Naperville and Schaumburg have delivered a stiff shot against drunken drivers.
Rockford, with 760 total DUI arrests in 1991, Naperville (614) and Schaumburg (604) led the pack, though smaller Roselle far outpaced the competition in terms of arrests per officer-nearly 12 apiece, compared with fewer than five for most other top-ranked departments.
Northwest suburban residents can be particularly pleased: Six of the top 10 departments are in the area.
Why do these communities excel in putting the pinch on drunken drivers?
The reasons range from having officers assigned specifically to DUI enforcement to tighter local control over drunken-driving cases once they reach the courts.
But all of the top towns have one thing in common, according to drunken driving adversaries: committed cops.
”I`m sure in these towns, the police chief is emphasizing that DUI is a crime and that it`s going to be punished,” said David Osborn, president of Schaumburg-based AAIM. ”If an officer doesn`t hear that from the top, his emphasis is going to go into other things.”
In Schaumburg, Police Chief Kenneth Alley maintains a pool of 11 officers in his DUI Task Force who attend seminars to stay up to date on changes in DUI laws and are specially trained in conducting Breathalyzer tests.
On any one night, two to four of those officers can be found scouring Schaumburg`s streets for drunken drivers, in addition to the regular patrol officers who can make such arrests as well.
”If we can save one life a week, it`s certainly a benefit,” Alley said of the added enforcement.
While smaller than the other top-ranked departments, Roselle keeps on top of drunken drivers in part by having an officer work an extra shift on Fridays, from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.
”That accounts for some of the numbers, but that (also) articulates to the rank and file that the department has an emphasis on DUI enforcement,”
said Roselle Chief Richard Eddington.
Naperville has more control over DUI cases because it is one of the only municipalities in the Chicago area where most such cases are prosecuted under local ordinance instead of state statute.
In that way, the Naperville city prosecutor handles the cases rather than the county state`s attorney`s office.
Still, while some communities have boosted their DUI arrests through tighter local control or extra manpower, others have managed to keep their numbers up without added emphasis.
”We don`t have any special enforcement; it`s our regular patrol officers” who make all DUI arrests, said Hoffman Estates Police Chief Donald Cundiff.
Like other communities splattered with major roads, Hoffman Estates simply has more traffic and thus more potential drunken drivers. ”We have a lot of people going through either to work or to parties,” he said, ”so (DUI arrests) have developed into one of our priorities.”
One of these days, Cundiff figures, drunken drivers will get the message: ”Sooner or later,” he said, ”we hope people will think twice before they drink and drive through this area.”
Following Rockford, Naperville and Schaumburg, the other departments with the highest number of DUI arrests were: Hoffman Estates (445), Waukegan (407), Normal (400), Roselle (370), Hanover Park (357), Elgin (355), Rolling Meadows (281), Buffalo Grove (267), Springfield (251), Aurora (245), Carbondale
(226) and Arlington Heights (203).
Chicago police didn`t come close to making AAIM`s list. The department made 5,836 DUI arrests last year, but AAIM notes that with 12,000 sworn officers, its arrest rate is about 1 arrest for every two officers.
Osborn contended that is because Chicago police don`t put enough emphasis on DUI arrests.
”People say they`re too busy handling murders,” he said. ”But most crimes are committed when people are intoxicated, (so) maybe if we were making it riskier for them to be mobile, we might reduce crime in general.”
For their part, Chicago police officials dismiss such comparisons, given the city`s vastly larger size. Howard Patinkin, commander of the Chicago Police Department`s traffic group, said the number of DUI arrests the department has made increased from 4,508 to 5,836 from 1990 to `91.
Said Patinkin: ”The department has made a major effort, on an ongoing basis, to fight DUIs.”
