OVI task force: Crackdown works

The goal isn’t a lot of drunken-driving arrests but to educate, a state patrol commander said.

STAFF REPORT

The crackdown on drunken drivers in Mahoning County in 2008 heightened awareness and saved lives, according to the Mahoning County Operating a Vehicle Impaired Task Force coordinator.

The task force, since it formed four years ago to reduce alcohol-related crashes, has seen a tremendous change with respect to impaired driving, said Tracy Styka, task force coordinator. Alcohol-related crashes, injuries and fatalities have decreased significantly over the years, she said.

Mahoning County recorded 14 alcohol-related fatalities in 2005, eight in 2006, 10 in 2007 and four in 2008, she said. A ruling is pending on one death from last year.

“At the same time, we have witnessed an increase of designated drivers during our sobriety checkpoints and blitzes,” Styka said. “These changes could not have happened without the public responding to our efforts by changing their own attitudes and behaviors. Undoubtedly, we have saved lives due to a reduction of [drunken] drivers within Mahoning County.”

The lives saved, Styka said, are the result of many partnerships formed with police throughout the county who work together on the task force. The Goshen Township Police District administers a grant for the task force from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and schedules the unit’s activities.

“It’s hard in law enforcement to look at what didn’t happen, hard to quantify what didn’t happen because we did our job and eliminated potential hazards,” said Goshen Police Chief Jim Willock. “Sometimes we get negative feedback for making just one arrest, but how many were not driving drunk because we were out there?”

Willock said officers hand out cards during checkpoints and extra patrols that make motorists aware of impaired driving. The cards list the potential cost of a drunken-driving arrest, which can reach $5,000 for fines, court costs, attorneys fees, towing, bail and so forth.

He said the Ohio Department of Public Safety Investigative Unit, which has officers work undercover in bars, often works with the task force. “When we saturate Boardman or Austintown or Youngstown it has an effect in the bars: [the drinkers] get designated drivers,” he said.

The task force made 257 drunken-driving arrests last year, Styka said. Aside from putting extra police on patrol to target impaired drivers, the unit held 18 sobriety checkpoints on area roads. At checkpoints, officers divert vehicles, sometimes every third one, to a staging area and check the driver’s identification and license and look for signs of drinking.

In 2008, the task force spent $150,000 in federal funds for its extra patrols and checkpoints, Styka said. Most officers working the details are paid overtime, with their respective departments being reimbursed through the grant.

Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers from the Canfield post participated in some of the sobriety checkpoints and most of the task force’s saturation patrols as part of their regular shift, not overtime, said Lt. Chris Heverly, post commander.

Heverly said the goal isn’t to make a lot of drunken-driving arrests but to educate motorists about the dangers of drinking and driving. He said troopers often hand out literature about alcohol awareness.

“I think it sends a good message to inform people,” he said.

Heverly said the task force targets mostly Austintown, Youngstown and Boardman, areas where people travel to bars. He said his post will participate again this year in task force efforts to reduce alcohol-related crashes.

Aside from making drunken-driving arrests, officers working the checkpoints or extra patrols removed a number of potentially impaired drivers from behind the wheel of a car and arranged for alternate transportation with a sober driver, Styka said. They also removed drugs and weapons, recovered stolen vehicles and took into custody individuals wanted for felonies and misdemeanors, she said.

From now until September, the task force will schedule nine sobriety checkpoints.

The task force will apply for a new grant in July. The state funds the top 10 counties with the worst alcohol-related problems; Mahoning County ranked No. 10 for 2007.

“If we fall out of the top 10, we would no longer be eligible for funding,” Styka said.