By Phil Parker
Albuquerque Journal
SANTA FE — Both DWI arrests and crashes in Santa Fe County have dropped since 2009, according to figures provided this week by the Santa Fe Underage Drinking Prevention Alliance.
“The good news is crashes have gone down,” said Alliance spokeswoman Cynthia Delgado. “They’re a lagging indicator we’re doing a better job policing the streets. You don’t want to see crashes going up and arrests going down.”
The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office and Santa Fe Police Department each saw a dip in their total DWI arrests, while New Mexico State Police had an increase.
Overall, however, the figure for the entire Santa Fe area dropped from 986 in 2009 to 931 in 2010.
Crashes decreased from 157 to 125 last year, while seized vehicles jumped 157 percent, from 222 to 570, because of the city and county’s vehicle seizure programs. Santa Fe County Sheriff Robert Garcia said Thursday he “wasn’t pleased with the numbers.”
The sheriff’s office made exactly 100 fewer DWI/DUI arrests in 2010 compared to 2009 - 257 to 357 - but he said that may not be a precise indicator for total drunk driving arrests. If someone gets busted simultaneously for drunken driving and another more serious offense - for example, cocaine possession - then the latter goes into the statistical compilation and the DWI isn’t reported to the Alliance.
Garcia didn’t know Thursday whether the number of driving citations issued by the sheriff’s office had dropped along with the number of DWI arrests. If citations - the minor traffic offenses which usually lead to drunken driving arrests - are down also, then Garcia said he sees that as a problem.
“I would hope that less people are driving drunk, but I want to do some research and make sure our guys are doing the job,” he said. “I’m researching that right now.”
The Santa Fe Police Department made 26 fewer drunken driving arrests in 2010 than in 2009 (318 to 344). Police Chief Aric Wheeler said his officers have seen a decrease in 2010 of the number of drunken drivers who roll through police checkpoints around Santa Fe.
“I think the state’s done a good job as far as education and campaigns to make people aware of the problem,” Wheeler said. “I think you’re seeing a change in society that goes along with that, and I hope that’s what these numbers reflect.”
New Mexico State Police drunken driving arrests increased from 285 to 356, which Lt. Eric Garcia said is partly due to additional enforcement on the streets during targeted times like late nights during holidays. He added, however, that from the State Police’s point of view there may just be more people trying to get away with driving drunk and getting caught. State Police checkpoints, he said, haven’t yielded significantly more arrests in 2010 than the year before.
The number of seized vehicles by state police and SFPS skyrocketed after the implementation in 2010 of programs that take away a drunken driver’s car. City police seize on a first offense while the sheriff’s office takes a vehicle after the third.
Robert Garcia said he is moving forward on a proposal to change the county ordinance so the sheriff’s office can seize a drunken driver’s wheels after the second offense. He has been contacted by the Santa Fe Underage Drinking Prevention Alliance about making the county ordinance match the city’s, but hasn’t decided whether to support such a change, he said. Traffic stop
Drivers help pull over motorist that “showed signs of impairment” Page 4
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