DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI lawyer news

226 DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI arrests, 37 percent less than last year

When the total number of DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI arrests were tallied for 2007, figures showed that Lombard officers had arrested 133 less motorists for allegedly DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI - driving under the influence than they did the previous year.

In 2006, Lombard officers arrested 359 motorists on DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI charges. This number was up from the previous year, when Lombard officers made 255 DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI arrests.

The department's concentrated efforts to keep DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI / drunk drivers off the streets began in 1993, when midnight shift officers set a goal of 300 DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI arrests. Tallying a total of 383 DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI arrests that year, the Lombard department earned statewide recognition for its DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI enforcement efforts for a number of years.

While the number of DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI arrests eventually fell, the number of Lombard's DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI arrests had been on the rise for the past few years.

That changed last year, when the number of DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI arrests fell by 133, showing a 37-percent decrease.

According to Lombard police Deputy Chief Dane Cuny, of the 226 arrested for DUI in 2007, officers charged 173 male drivers and 53 female drivers with DUI.

Statistics show that the average age for the male drivers was 33, and the average for female drivers was 30. Blood alcohol content (BAC) was .159 for males charged and .188 for female drivers. According to the law, .08 percent and higher is considered legal intoxication.

Lombard police Officer Michael Chudzinski led the department with 33 DUI arrests. Coming in second for the second year in a row was Lombard police Officer Thomas Balsitis, who logged 28 DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI arrests last year.

However, in 2006, Balsitis had come in a close second with 44 DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI arrests behind Lombard police Officer Janet Myerson's total of 48 DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI arrests.

Other officers who led the department in DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI arrests in 2007 were officers James Brown, with 18 DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI arrests, and Eric Gouty with 15 DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI arrests.

Of the department's 226 DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI arrests, according to Lombard police Officer Joe Grage, a member of the department's Traffic Safety Unit, 11 DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI arrests were made between 7:15 a.m. and 3:15 p.m.

In addition, there were 20-some DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI arrests made between 3:15 and 11:15 p.m. and 187 DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI arrests made between 11:15 p.m. and 7:15 a.m.

Grage explained that 16.8 percent of the DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI arrests in 2007 occurred on the day and afternoon shifts.

Grage, who works the day shift, said he made four DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI arrests in 2007, most of which were the result of a DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI accident.

The department conducted two roadside DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI safety checkpoints last year, but according to Grage, no DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI arrests were made during the DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI checkpoints.

While Lombard is authorized to have 73 sworn officers, due to recent retirements and injuries, Cuny said the department currently is not at full strength.

They intend to increase their DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI enforcement in 2008. DUI / Drunk Driving / DWI criminal defense lawyers salivate.