Major DWI enforcement in Cole Co.

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Friday, the Cole County Sheriff’s Department, in cooperation with the MoDOT, participated in the statewide “Drink and Drive and Get Arrested” enforcement effort.

Sobriety checkpoints were conducted on Missouri 179 at Mission Drive in the northbound and southbound lanes.

The checkpoints kicked off a night of DWI enforcement that included DWI saturation patrols throughout the county.

Cole County Sheriff Greg White said 793 cars were checked.

There were seven arrests for DWI, 11 for no operator’s license, one outstanding felony no-bond drug warrant and one citation for littering.

Deputies also got into a pursuit at the checkpoints when a motorcyclist approached, gestured to a traffic control deputy and fled at a high rate of speed.

The pursuit ended with the suspect crashing on Cassidy Road.

That driver was taken into custody and is facing a variety of traffic violations.

The name of the driver was not released pending the filing of formal charges.

After the checkpoint, saturation patrols continued with one of the DWI arrests also charged with assault on a law enforcement officer.

In 2011, the Cole County Sheriff’s Department arrested over 200 drunk drivers.

Friday’s checkpoint was dedicated to MoDOT worker, Duane Pace, who had been killed by a driver while working on a construction site in 2002.

A MoDOT Highway Safety Division grant paid for the overtime costs for the deputies to man the checkpoints.

These were the first checkpoints with major participation from MoDOT employees and equipment.

Volunteer reserve deputies, sheriff’s posse members, and Cole County hazmat personnel were also involved in a variety of duties and assignments.

The Sheriff’s Department was awarded $22,248 in traffic grants for 2011-2012.

For 2012-2013, the sheriff’s department was awarded a total of $23,878 for DWI enforcement and sobriety checkpoint funding, a 7.3% increase.

White noted that thanks to these types of enforcement efforts, the total number of Missouri traffic deaths declined to 786 in 2011, a drop from 821 in 2010, and a drop from 878 in 2009.

However, so far in 2012, there have been 582 traffic deaths in Missouri, a 9% increase from the same time period last year.

More like this story

jdb 7 months, 4 weeks ago

Over 700 vehicles stopped and only seven arrests for DWI violations. That is a success rate of less than ONE PERCENT! Quite a return on that investment.

I hope these safety stops start examining the driver's cell phone to see if any texting has been done in the last five minutes. This would indicate that the driver had been texting while driving. Texting while driving is as dangerous as driving while impaired and in some circumstances it is illegal.

spelchek 7 months, 4 weeks ago

Looks like somebody went through a check point this weekend!!!

jdb 7 months, 4 weeks ago

Does your post imply that you have a right to text while driving?

newone 7 months, 4 weeks ago

That is 7 less people on the road that night to possibly kill you or a family member!! I just wish they would do something other than let them go after a few hours!!

bluesfan13 7 months, 4 weeks ago

I suppose that's one way to look at it. Otherwise, if there were 10 drunk drivers in Central Missouri that night, they had a 70% sucess rate.

newone 7 months, 4 weeks ago

I am not sure why they have these check points, so they are arrested, big deal nothing ever happens to them, I know someone who is on DWI #4 and has spent a total of 5 days in jail between all four DWI's, still has his license and still continues to drive drunk. Unless you hit and kill someone they do nothing, said but very true!!

clingingredneck 7 months, 4 weeks ago

Not true. It only hurts if you already obey the law. I know someone who did it once, got caught, and paid for seven years with the higher insurance and court costs, as well as the inability to get anything above minimum wage in a job. If you don't give a hoot and don't work then it doesn't matter.

newone 7 months, 4 weeks ago

Sorry but seven years of higher insurance and court costs is not punishment when they could have killed someone.

spelchek 7 months, 4 weeks ago

Not proud to say I've been through a few of these after partaking in a few adult beverages. Apparently not enough for a DWI. One thing I've learned over the years is not to lie to cops. They don't like being insulted just like the next person. Telling the truth seems to have kept me out of trouble over the years. Imagine that...

eileen10 7 months, 4 weeks ago

Some guy flipped the cop off. Then he took off and crashed. Duh! If the laws were real harsh I think we'd see less drunk driving. Such as if someone is caught driving drunk the first offense is 30 days in jail, lose license for 60 days..tough luck..walk to work..and the second offense would be lose license for ever. Bet it would work.

clingingredneck 7 months, 4 weeks ago

You guys that are so in support of harassing tax paying citizens, why don't you support drug testing of the welfare recipients just as strongly? They are living off your tax dollars and they are driving on your highways as well.

eileen10 7 months, 4 weeks ago

Because we're talking about drunk drivers and not welfare problems. How many men, women and children have died due to drunk drivers?

newone 7 months, 4 weeks ago

I do support drug testings for welfare recipients but that is not the subject of this story, I don't think you would consider it harassing if you had lost a loved one to a person who thought he was "ok" to drive home!!

RobHunterJohnson 7 months, 4 weeks ago

Why don't we focus on catching these Dead Voters down in TN, our law enforcement in Missouri is one of the best, I tell you about a TN stop , he came at me HEAD ON from the off ramp Clarksville, TN. At 2:00 am the first words out of my mouth was look at this Drunk, and it was the law. I will take a Missouri stop over that unprofesional stop any day. Rob

Paroquet 7 months, 3 weeks ago

Typically, checkpoints are a disgusting waste. Saturation patrols are demonstrably more effective. Now, since they mention saturation patrols in tandem with the checkpoint, you have to ask, how many of the 7 DWI arrests were attributable to the checkpoint alone? Even if all seven, that's less than a 1% success rate. They'd do far better percentage wise just outside the Country Club on a random Thursday with a squad of two and rotating transport.

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