The number of DUI arrests in Pinellas County has increased substantially this year compared to the last two years. The arrest rate has gone up largely because of the reinstatement of the Pinellas DUI squad this year after a three year absence due to budget cuts.
Before 2009, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office used to regularly return around 1,500 DUI arrests annually. The squad consisted of, at that time, a dozen deputies and was supported by citizens’ groups like Tampa Bay RID (Remove Intoxicated Drivers), set up by a woman whose son was killed in 1987 by a drunk driver.
In 2009, the squad was disbanded, a victim of the financial crisis and a need to make budget cuts throughout the state. Newly elected Sheriff Bob Gualteri has reinstated the DUI squad this year and it has been busy looking for intoxicated drivers to remove from the state’s road ways.
Gualteri says that the number of DUI arrests in the last few years embarrassed him and he points to the number of DUI related crashes as a good reason for boosting police presence on county roads after dark.
The DUI squad now consists of six deputies and a sergeant. The number of arrests has risen from 521 last year to over 1,200 in the first 9 months of this year. It operates from sundown to dawn from Wednesday through to Sunday morning.
There is no evidence yet of a decrease in the number of DUI related crashes. There were around 60 of these in the same 9 months of this year as last year, but Sheriff Gualteri is hoping that the number of accidents will decrease with increased vigilance.
Gualteri explained what deputies looked for when they were on patrol. They would observe the behavior of drivers as they approached them. They looked for drivers who drove particularly slowly, or were weaving from one side of a lane to another, made signaling errors or braked unnecessarily.
The squad also kept a look out for the places which were offering special deals on drinks, or whether there were events like ladies nights which might mean impaired drivers driving home afterwards.
The squad’s supervisor is Sergeant Howard Skaggs, who worked with the old DUI squad for 8 years before it was disbanded and has been with the Sheriff’s Office for 26 years in total.
Skaggs said that he thought that a lot of the squad’s work was about educating drivers, not just arresting them. He explained how deputies would talk to drivers who were close to the state’s 0.08% legal limit for blood alcohol level and get them home safely rather than arrest them. He also said that the squad had arrested some drivers with BAC levels of above 0.30, more than three times the legal limit. Even someone who was driving a golf cart has been arrested with a BAC that was around that figure.
If you are a resident of Pinellas County or anywhere else in the TAMPA Bay area you should be aware of the increased DUI surveillance that is now being carried out. There is a lot of pressure on the police patrols to make arrests and this means you could be caught up in their net whether you have been drinking or not.
The best way to avoid being arrested for DUI is of course to make sure you do not drink and drive. If you have had a drink, then try and avoid driving back home in your own car. Catch a cab, use a bus if you can, or get someone else to drive you home. If you really insist on driving, you should make sure you do nothing to alert the attention of those who are looking out for impaired rivers. Make sure you stick to the road rules, and be controlled and cooperative if you do get stopped at a DUI checkpoint or by a mobile patrol.
If you have been arrested for DUI in Pinellas County or anywhere else around Tampa, you will need the help of an experienced DUI attorney.
Just because of an increased DUI presence does not always mean that a DUI arrest is justified. You have the right to challenge a DUI charge and prosecutors must be able to provide sufficient evidence of your impairment beyond reasonable doubt. A skilful DUI defense can help reduce penalties imposed on you, or change a conviction to a less severe one, even if the charge cannot be dismissed altogether.
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