Target Zero – More DUI Arrests on the Way
Because King, Snohomish and Pierce County don’t feel as if they’ve arrested enough folks for DUI lately, they’re rolling out a new federally funded program, called “Target Zero” just in time for July 4th Weekend.
As a Lynnwood DUI Lawyer, I am interested to see if they are simply ramping up enforcement, or are going to be using any real “new” techniques to try to clear the road. They’ll be using the 21 troopers with the best records for arresting DUI drivers.
From The Seattle Times:
Just in time for the Fourth of July weekend, the State Patrol launched a new task force Thursday in three counties dedicated solely to hunting down intoxicated drivers and eliminating drunken-driving fatalities by 2030.
The “Target Zero” teams, made up of 21 troopers with the best records for arresting drunken drivers, will focus all their efforts on catching impaired drivers in King, Snohomish and Pierce counties.
Police officers and sheriff’s deputies from more than 30 agencies in the counties will help when they can, the State Patrol said.
Soon after the announcement, a state trooper assigned to a King County team pulled over a 23-year-old man for allegedly driving 24 miles over the speed limit on Interstate 5 in Tukwila.
After taking sobriety tests, the man was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs. Police said a loaded .45-caliber pistol was discovered in the vehicle. The man was booked into the King County Jail on suspicion of driving under the influence (DUI) and unlawful possession of a firearm.
Troopers dedicated the program’s first shift Thursday to Nicholas Hodgins, Derek King and Anthony Beaver, victims in a June 10 drunken-driving collision on Interstate 5 in South King County. Hodgins and King, 18-year-old seniors at Decatur High School in Federal Way, were killed; Beaver, 19, was injured.
“We’ll be out there seven days a week” with more manpower on weekends, said State Patrol Chief John Batiste at a new briefing at Boeing Field in Seattle.
In Washington, there has been a yearly average of about 220 deaths for the past eight years resulting from intoxicated-driving collisions, said Batiste.
The consistent number of fatalities is one of the main reasons the Target Zero program is being launched, he said, “because what we were doing before wasn’t working.”
Target Zero is different from similar prevention programs, Batiste said.
“The important thing will be the addition of lots of data,” he said, noting that troopers will have an informed idea of when and where DUIs are likely to occur.
The task force received a two-year grant totaling about $4.5 million from the federal government to hire and train officers to replace the troopers shifted to the program.
Teams will target specific “zones” in each county that are hot spots for DUI activity. The zones, which will be constantly updated, vary by county and are determined from aggregate highway-safety data on where people are arrested, injured and killed in DUI collisions.
“The vast majority of people driving impaired are using a combination of alcohol, illicit and prescription drugs,” said Lowell Porter, director of the Washington Traffic Safety Commission.
In addition to looking at DUIs, Batiste said, the team will examine the correlation between traffic flow and other crimes in the zones. Evidence suggests that an individual who commits a crime like burglary may also drive intoxicated in the same area, he said.
“This is so aggressive, it’s bloody fantastic,” said Laurel Middelaer, whose daughter was killed two years ago near Vancouver, B.C., by a drunken driver. Middelaer has since become an activist for tougher laws and enforcement in British Columbia, where she would like to see Target Zero’s approach.
“If they do this right, it could be a model for change everywhere,” said Middelaer.
It could be a model for change – or a vast increase of the police’s authority to find their ways into the lives of average ordinary citizens who have done nothing more horrible than have one drink too many, and haven’t hurt anyone.
If you find yourself on the wrong end of a “target zero” arrest – you owe it to yourself to call Lynnwood DUI Attorney Jonathan Dichter for a FREE consultation at 425-424-9401, TODAY.
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