Arrests up in Gilroy, but rain kept many off the streets
Gilroy – When it rains it pours. The Gilroy Police Department made 31 percent more arrests this year for drunken driving compared to last year holiday season’s Avoid the 13 campaign. Police officials expected to arrest more than 600 impaired drivers in 18 days – however, the final figure was only 562 arrests – a number campaign organizers attribute to the rainy weather and increased education. Last year, 645 people were arrested countywide.
“The chair of the campaign, Mountain View Police Chief Scott Vermeer, kind of challenged everybody to frustrate the cops in a good way – by driving sober,” said Avoid the 13 spokesperson Jan Ford. “And they did.”
She believes the heavy rains this weekend deterred many drivers from hitting the roads, which contributed to the reduction of DUI arrests.
Law enforcement agencies countywide participated in the holiday crackdown, which began Dec. 16 and ended Monday at midnight.
“What we really want to see is the education working,” Ford explained. “And we want to see the (alcohol-related) injuries go down.”
While there were no fatalities this year – compared with three last year – there were nine additional alcohol-related injury crashes bringing the total to 25.
For the past three years, arrests for driving under the influence have decreased in Santa Clara County while Gilroy officers have upped their arrests.
Despite the inclement weather during the last weekend of the campaign, GPD made 10 more DUI arrests this year compared to last year’s 22. Of the 32 arrests, 13 were made during the New Year’s holiday weekend. During the 2003-04 Avoid the 13 campaign, GPD made 20 arrests.
The California Highway Patrol’s Hollister-Gilroy office made 27 this year, compared to 34 the year before.
Special strike teams are formed to perform roadside sobriety checks and educational appearances. Most patrols were altered to coincide with the hours most DUIs occur.
“We had DUI units out every single night, plus all our other officers were out on the roads,” said Sgt. Wes Stanford. “We made it a focus.”
According to Stanford, officers made frequent stops and managed to pull over many DUI suspects who had prior offenses. One woman was arrested twice in the same weekend during the campaign, he said.
More than a third of the officers in the department attended a three-day course taught by the CHP this year where they learned the newest field sobriety tests and procedures.
“It’s like that old saying – Luck favors the prepared soul,” Stanford said.
