Police waiting for funds to fight DUIs

Greg Risling

COSTA MESA -- A state agency announced this week that six Orange County

law enforcement agencies -- including the Costa Mesa Police Department --

were awarded grant funding to fight speeding and driving under the

influence.

Costa Mesa will receive at least $15,000 for a second radar trailer that

will be posted at various points around the city. The money is part of

$11 million pledged to communities across Los Angeles and Orange counties

by the state Office of Traffic Safety.

Typically, the radar trailers cause motorists to slow down as they

approach the electronic device.

The city is still awaiting word from the state agency whether a two-man

DUI enforcement team will be approved. One team already exists to monitor

motorist activity on Friday and Saturday nights, and an additional crew

-- which will cost $75,000 -- would help reduce the number of DUI-related

accidents, said Costa Mesa police Lt. Dale Birney.

“Based on the amount of traffic we get for both of those nights we can’t

possibly encompass enough area to stop these people from drinking and

driving,” Birney said. “The more officers we have, the more enforcement

we can have toward DUI arrests.”

Birney said the added resources are necessary in Costa Mesa because of

the number of accidents reported. According to state statistics, Costa

Mesa ranked second in the number of DUI accidents among similar-sized

cities in California.

The last data recorded in 1997 shows there were 81 traffic accidents as a

result of someone driving under the influence, including one fatal

accident. There were 1,055 DUI arrests reported in that same year.

Birney said the grant likely will help the department meet its goal of

reducing DUI accidents by 10% while increasing the amount of DUI arrests

by the same amount.

While Costa Mesa waits for its share of grant funding from the state,

Newport Beach still must cope with its own plethora of alcohol-related

incidents.

Alcohol-related arrests have historically been problematic for the

department because of Newport’s beachside allure for visitors.

Although the department has an enforcement team and routine DUI

checkpoints, it still must combat a high alcohol incident rate in certain

parts of town. About 60% of arrests in areas such as the peninsula are

alcohol-related, said Sgt. Mike McDermott.

The department has seen a reduction in the amount of DUI-related arrests

to about 350 in 1997, but there is always more that can be done,

McDermott added.

“We have reduced our DUI numbers, but so has everyone else,” he said. “It

has always been an enforcement challenge for us. But we have more people

assigned to our traffic division than most agencies our size.”