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The governor has awarded the Southeastern Arizona DUI Task Force more funds to ensure it has the resources to be on the road when they are most needed.

The $150,700 grant was awarded to the task force by the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety and will go toward paying for overtime and benefits for task force members, who have been restricted from working overtime since October 2009, said Lt. Mark Genz, Sierra Vista District commander for the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office.

“It gives us the ability to get outside of our normal patrol functions,” Genz said.

Without funding for overtime pay, task force members have had to participate in the various impaired driving details throughout the county as much as they could during typical shifts.

The new funding will ensure that the task force can now devote entire shifts to identifying and enforcing traffic infractions at checkpoints or while on roving patrols during times when drinking is likely to occur, such as holidays, graduation days and other special events.

The grant will also fund other efforts made by the task force to curb illegal drinking activities, including the Covert Underage Buyers program, in which an adult volunteer who is not of drinking age attempts to purchase alcohol.

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Police officers in the Tucson Police Department received a large state grant in order to better enforce DUI laws in the coming year.

The funds will be allocated to enforcement of existing traffic laws through selective enforcement efforts, often called saturation patrols. Part of this enforcement includes a DUI checkpoint scheduled in the area this Friday.

DUI checkpoints cost a lot of money to put on. The roads must be closed down and secured. In addition, officers at a checkpoint are often paid overtime due to the high number of officers required to run the checkpoint effectively. Though the cost is high, most police departments expect to make the money back through citations.

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A law enforcement agency in San Diego’s north county is getting a grant to step up DUI enforcement along State Route 76.

The California Highway Patrol’s Oceanside office is getting 266,000 for increased DUI patrols and sobriety checkpoints along 38 miles of Route 76. There have been 13 deaths and 303 injuries related to DUI’s on the road in the past three years. Sergeant Tom Greenstone says the casinos in the area play a role in the crashes.

“We have a number of high incidences of crashes that are fatalities and DUI involved that we have been able to relate back to the casinos and not just one but all of them out there on the east side of I-15 on SR 76,” he said.

The grant comes from the State Office of Highway Safety. The extra enforcement measures will begin in September and last for about a year and a half.

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Law enforcement agencies throughout Alabama are gearing up for an Alabama DUI campaign and Gov. Riley has awarded grants of $250,000 to help fund the increased enforcement.

The campaign runs Aug. 21 through Sept. 7, covering the two weeks leading up to Labor Day. Funding will help pay overtime for law enforcement officers across Alabama to increase their presence on highways.

The Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs is administering the grants from funds made available to the state by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Here is how the money is being divided:

• The Etowah County Commission was awarded $25,050 for the Northeast Alabama Traffic Safety Office which serves Cherokee, DeKalb, Etowah, Jackson, Madison and Marshall counties.
• Gadsden State Community College was awarded $22,445 for the East Alabama Highway Safety Office which serves Calhoun, Chambers, Clay, Cleburne, Coosa, Randolph, Talladega and Tallapoosa counties
• Jefferson State Community College was awarded $37,050 for the Birmingham Regional Highway Safety Office which serves Bibb, Blount, Chilton, Jefferson, Shelby, St. Clair and Walker counties
• Enterprise-Ozark Community College was awarded $23,485 for the Southeast Alabama Traffic Safety Office which serves Barbour, Butler, Coffee, Covington, Crenshaw, Dale, Geneva, Henry, Houston and Pike counties.
• Northwest Shoals Community College was awarded $39,145 for the North Alabama Highway Safety Office which serves Colbert, Cullman, Franklin, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone, Marion, Morgan and Winston counties.
• The Mobile County Commission was awarded $28,185 for the Highway Traffic Safety Division which serves Baldwin, Escambia and Mobile counties.
• The Alabama Tombigbee Regional Commission was awarded $18,790 for the Highway Traffic Safety Division which serves Choctaw, Clarke, Conecuh, Dallas, Marengo, Monroe, Washington and Wilcox counties.
• Shelton State Community College was awarded $22,445 for the West Alabama Community Traffic Safety Office which serves Fayette, Greene, Hale, Lamar, Perry, Pickens, Sumter and Tuscaloosa counties.

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Have you been accused of Drunk Driving in Alabama?

Unless you hire a Qualified Alabama DUI lawyer here is what you can expect for a first time Alabama DUI conviction:

A first time Alabama DUI conviction in a person’s lifetime is a misdemeanor. Upon conviction the defendant may be given a sentence of up to 365 days in the county or municipal jail and a fine between $600 and $2,100. The DUI defendant will also be ordered to attend a court approved substance abuse program and he will have his driver’s privilege suspended for 90 days.

Alabama’s “look-back” period for DUI laws is 5 years. This means that if a person has only one prior DUI, and the day that he is convicted of his second DUI is more than 5 years after the date of conviction for his first DUI, he will be sentenced within the range of punishment as a first offender. However, if the second DUI conviction is within 5 years of the first conviction he will be punished as a second offense.

On the other hand an experienced AL DUI lawyer can get you off the hook or at least the best deal possible. It’s what they do.

This cruiser is the real deal. It has everything and more.

The Yuma Police Department has a new vehicle for its fight against motorists suspected of DUI. What appears to be just another police cruiser is actually a specialized vehicle containing state-of-the-art equipment. The car can and will also be used in traffic enforcement, looking for speeders, red light runners and aggressive drivers.

The cruiser has emergency lights mounted along the inside, top edge of the front windshield rather than the roof, a computer with two monitors, special lights for side visibility, a digital mobile video system linked to two cameras for recording traffic stops arrests and a Doppler radar. The radar allows officers to scan traffic in both directions simultaneously and it automatically identifies the fastest cars in its range.

The designated DUI team, that has been assigned to the car, has been trained to draw blood samples to check blood alcohol content of suspected drunk drivers, and are trained in drug recognition.

The cruiser was paid for through a $40,000 grant from the Arizona Governor’s Office of Highway Safety.

If you have been arrested for DUI in Arizona and have not contacted a qualified Arizona DUI Lawyer, what are you waiting for? Visit the Arizona DUI Lawyer Directory Right Away!
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With the help of a recently awarded grant, South Lake Tahoe police expect to ramp up drunk-driving enforcement over the coming year.

The department will have extra officers looking for intoxicated drivers at least twice a month on either Friday or Saturday nights – with more during holiday periods – over the next year, according to a statement from the police department.

Additional officers will be on the street starting this Saturday, according to the statement.

The increased DUI enforcement will be paid for through a $67,000 grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety. The grant money will fund officers working overtime on DUI suppression and education programs, according to the statement.

This grant also will pay for DUI checkpoints, driver’s license checkpoints and DUI warrant-service operations, according to the statement.
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If you have been arrested for DUI in California call 1-866-442-2722.

The Sherwood Police Department has procured a $47,000 grant from the Arkansas Highway Safety Office for Selective Traffic Enforcement, according to Lt. Cheryl Williams, public information officer.

“The funding from the grant award provides overtime compensation for Sherwood police officers to enforce certain traffic violations including driving while intoxicated, driving under the influence (for minors), speeding, seat belt and child restraint laws,” said Williams. “The grant also provides limited funding the purchase of child safety seats. These child seats are loaned to families in need and who cannot afford to purchase them.”

In Arkansas during 2007, there were 218 alcohol-related fatalities reported, said Williams. “This is a decrease of eight from the previous year,” she said.

An additional area of concern is occupant protection where in 2007, 65 percent of the recorded vehicle occupant fatalities were unrestrained.

The safety belt rate in Arkansas for 2007 was 69.9 percent, while the national use rate stood at 82 percent. Arkansas’s safety belt/child restraint use rate for children under 15 years old was 75.5 percent in 2007.

However, Arkansas’s safety belt use rate increased to 70.4 percent and the child restraint use increased to 78.7 percent in 2008, according to Williams.

The grant period concludes Sept. 30, 2009.

“The Sherwood Police Department is pleased to be a partner with the Arkansas Highway Safety Office and other law enforcement agencies in Arkansas to make Arkansas a much safer place to operate a motor vehicle,” said Williams.

Police Chief Kel Nicholson said the grants are helpful in assisting the department in curbing the problem of drunken driving.

“With these grants, we don’t have to pull our officers off of their regular duties,” Nicholson said. “We can put them out on the streets looking for impaired drivers.”

The state grant is part of a program through the Arkansas State Police designed at curtailing drinking and driving.

“All too often there are innocent law-abiding people who suffer from the tragic consequences and the loss of loved ones due to the careless disregard for human life by someone who was driving while impaired. We’re committed to ending these tragedies by intensifying enforcement operations aimed at impaired drivers, said Colonel Winford E. Phillips, director of the Arkansas State Police.

During 2006 nearly 13,500 people in the United States died as the result of highway crashes involving motor vehicle drivers or motorcycle operators who were legally impaired with blood alcohol concentrations (BAC) of 0.08 or higher, according to the latest statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

“Impaired driving, whether on a city, county, state or Interstate roadway, not only puts the driver at risk of being killed but also of endangering someone else,” said Chuck Lange, executive director of the Arkansas Sheriff’s Association. “Even if an impaired driver beats the odds and walks away from a crash alive, motorists should be aware that the consequences of driving while impaired can still virtually destroy your life.”

Violators often face jail time, loss of their driver license, or being sentenced to use an ignition interlock and higher insurance rates. Other financial costs include attorney fees, court costs, lost time at work, and the potential loss of job or job prospects. When family, friends, and co-workers find out, violators can also face tremendous personal embarrassment and humiliation.
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If you you drink and drive in Sherwood, Arkansas you may be seriously out matched now. Quit while your ahead. If you have a Arkansas DUI case visit the DUI lawyer directory.