"Last Call" Unit

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 1,328 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 department 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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2001 Alcohol-related traffic fatalities

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