The News Room [News Archive]
Sheriff Contact: John Roach: 313-224-0615
Release Date: Monday, September 22, 2003
Sheriff Evans creates new unit to
round up fugitive drunk drivers --- 7,000 arrested in
Wayne County have not shown for court dates --- Vehicles of offenders
may be
towed and impounded
Deadbeat drunk drivers beware.
Wayne County Sheriff Warren C. Evans announced today that starting
October 1st, his department will be the first law enforcement agency
in Michigan to routinely track down people who have been charged
with drinking and driving, but fail to show for their court date
Evans points out that many of the estimated 7,000 people in the
county who fit into this category continue to drink and drive,
putting the public at risk and making a mockery of the criminal
justice system. In 2001 alone, there were more than 500 alcohol-related
traffic deaths in Michigan.
"The system has lost its accountability. People have known
for years that if they get arrested for drinking and driving and
don’t show for court, that nothing will happen to them,"
Evans said. "We have to do something to get the attention of people
who are thumbing their nose at the system."
To deal with this growing threat to the community, Evans sought
a state grant to establish what he calls the department's
"Last Call" unit. Governor Jennifer Granholm recently
informed the Sheriff’s Office it would receive $392,400
in funding through the Byrne Memorial Fund to help fund the effort.
The new full-time unit, which will be made up of four sheriff’s
deputies and one sergeant, will work with district courts throughout
the county to identify individuals who don'’t appear for
their court date. Deputies will then perform localized "sweeps"
to
round up the absconders and possibly have their vehicles towed
and impounded.
A survey taken earlier this year of area district
courts revealed that at least 7,000 people in Wayne County have
yet to face a judge
after having been arrested for drinking and driving related charges
including, OUIL, OWI, having open intoxicants in a moving vehicle
and other alcohol-related offenses.
Advocates for tougher drunk driving enforcement are thrilled with
the Sheriff’s commitment holding violators accountable for
their actions.
"An aggressive approach to this ongoing problem has been
needed for a long time," said Executive Director of
the Wayne County Chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving [MADD],
Jenny Lozano. "Sheriff
Evans has shown a great deal of leadership and it is my hope that
arresting these repeat offenders will get them off the road until
they can get the treatment they need."
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Fugitives to face stiffer fines
Although the unit is grant funded for up to three years, Evans
said the unit may become partially self-supporting through
the revenues it generates by towing and impounding vehicles.
Each
offender will have to pay a heavy fine, which will increase
for each subsequent offense, to reclaim his or her vehicle.
The amount
of those fines is still being decided by the prosecutor’s
office, however the current vehicle impoundment fees for people
caught buying drugs or soliciting a prostitute is $900. Evans
said that if there is not a just cause for seizing a vehicle,
offenders should still face a substantially higher bond to
better assure their return to court.
"The large fines associated with this effort are important
to its success because the desired result is to force those people
who are not motivated to go to court to do so," Evans said. "Without
that incentive, these violators will continue to just pay their
bond, jump in their car and disappear again."
Despite the large number of offenders in Wayne County, Evans said
that they should be fairly easy to find, since most have jobs and
known home addresses.
"These people are not hiding out in someone’s basement
or in an abandoned building like other types of fugitives we track
down," Evans said. "These cases will require a lot
less homework before we are able to make an arrest."
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2001 Drunk Driving Statistics
- Fatally injured drivers with BAC levels of 0.08 g/dl
or greater were 10 times as likely to have a prior conviction
for driving while intoxicated compared to fatally injured sober
drivers
[10 percent and 1 percent, respectively].
- Traffic fatalities in alcohol-related crashes rose slightly
[by 0.4 percent] from 17,380 in 2000 to 17,448 in 2001.
- NHTSA estimates that alcohol was involved in 41 percent of
fatal crashes and in 7 percent of all crashes in 2001.
- The 17,448 fatalities in alcohol-related crashes during 2001
represent an average of one alcohol-related fatality every 30
minutes.
- Approximately 1.5 million drivers were arrested in 2000 for
driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics. This is
an arrest
rate of 1 for every 130 licensed drivers in the United States
[2001 data not yet available].
- The rate of alcohol involvement in fatal crashes is more than
3 times as high at night as during the day [63 percent vs. 19
percent]. For all crashes, the alcohol involvement rate is 5 times as high
at night [15 percent vs.3 percent].
- In 2001, 32 percent of all fatal crashes during the week were
alcohol related, compared to 54 percent on weekends. For all
crashes,
the alcohol involvement rate was 5 percent during the week and 12 percent
during the weekend.[1]
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