Cops catch 50 drunk drivers Cops catch 50 drunk drivers (January 09, 2004)

MV officers work overtime to make DUI arrests

By Julie O'Shea

After beefing up its traffic patrol units, the Mountain View Police Department took 50 drunk drivers off the streets this holiday season.

The department's December DUI arrest totals were among the highest in all of Santa Clara County, behind only the California Highway Patrol's San Jose unit, which made 168 arrests and the city of San Jose with 318.

"Those numbers really showed the commitment," Mountain View Police Chief Scott Vermeer said.

"I think we did an outstanding job," Vermeer added. "It's not one of the more glamorous parts of police work. It's not catching bank robbers ... but it really is an important part of the job."

The total number of DUI arrests made in Santa Clara County between Dec. 12 and Jan. 2 was 870, up from 812 last year. Eighty-one motorists were arrested for driving under the influence between Dec. 31 and New Year's Day. Mountain View reported just two incidents during the same period.

Although there were 79 non-injury, DUI-related traffic accidents and 26 involving injuries, there were no fatalities, police agencies around the South Bay reported.

"We are seeing an overall decrease in driving under the influence," said Los Altos Police Sgt. Matt Hartley. "This is due in part to the (police departments') beefed-up enforcement."

Hartley is part of the Avoid the 13 campaign, which aims to crack down on drunk driving. Originally, 13 law enforcement agencies agreed to participate in the holiday DUI campaign when it first began. Today, there are 16 agencies participating in the program from Palo Alto to Gilroy.

"We were really out there, taking this issue very serious," said Vermeer, whose department teamed up with Los Altos and Palo Alto for two sobriety checkpoints on Dec. 20 and Dec. 23.

"It makes me happy that it's taking drunks off the streets," Hartley said.

Mountain View police spokesperson Jim Bennett said the department's success had a lot to do with the 10 additional officers who agreed to work overtime during the campaign. That added up to about 80 hours of additional police officer staff time out in the field, specifically for Avoid the 13, Bennett said. The funding for this came from an Office of Traffic Safety grant, which gave the Mountain View police more than $180,000 of extra spending cash for several different projects.

Without the grant, Bennett said, the department likely wouldn't have had the money for additional staff time.

The team of seven officers who were patrolling the streets on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights pulled in almost 30 arrests, Bennett said. Each member of the team will receive an Avoid the 13 pin, given to officers who make four or more arrests during the campaign.

"It's this team that did a really awesome job," Bennett said.

Vermeer agreed. "It revolves around the commitment of the officers," he said. "They truly are saving lives."

E-mail Julie O'Shea at joshea@mv-voice.com

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