By Brian Stanley
Chicago Sun-Times
Another year. Another award. And another mixed reaction from Will County Sheriff’s Deputy Steve Kirsch.
“I wonder if I’m really doing more. It’s nice to get recognition, but there have been defense attorneys who try to turn it around” and suggest he arrested their clients just to pump up his arrest numbers, he said.
Since rejoining the sheriff’s traffic unit in 2004, Kirsch has ranked among the state’s top cops for DUI enforcement every year.
In June, the Alliance Against Intoxicated Motorists honored Kirsch for his record of DUI arrests, saying only seven other officers in the state arrested more drunken drivers than Kirsch last year — all of whom were from the larger departments of Chicago, Rockford, and Springfield.
The 23-year-veteran grew up in Sheboygan, Wis., and came to the area after seeing a hiring poster for the sheriff’s department at college. After spending several years working in the county jail, Kirsch was T-boned by a drunken driver running a red light on one of his first days as a patrol deputy.
“Everybody survived that, though. It was a call I went to not long after, where some kids [young adults] were party-hopping and drove into an oak tree that’s stayed with me,” he said.
While there’s no “typical” profile for a drunken driver, Kirsch’s experience has found more arrests of men driving alone on a weeknight between 10 p.m. and midnight
“There’s plenty of activity on weekends, too, but I think if a couple plans to go out on the weekend, they’re more likely to decide who’s driving before they get to the bar. But if someone gets off work and decides to meet some buddies and keep drinking...,” Kirsch said.
While Kirsch isn’t waiting outside taverns to stop people leaving (“It doesn’t make you look good when you testify”), he has made more than 1,000 DUI arrests. With so much experience, he’s also frequently requested by fellow deputies and other departments to perform field sobriety tests if he’s available.
Copyright 2012 Sun-Times Media, LLC