Date: Fri 09-May-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

police-drunk-driving-crackdown

Full Text:

with cut: Police To Crack Down On Drunk Driving

B Y A NDREW G OROSKO

With the advent of warm weather and increased local driving, the police

department is focusing on enforcing drunken driving laws, according to Police

Chief James E. Lysaght, Jr.

The department has provided some of its officers with advanced training on how

to spot intoxicated motorists, he said.

"Since I got here, DUI enforcement has been one of my great concerns," he

said. Chief Lysaght began working here last July, following the retirement of

former chief Michael DeJoseph.

Intoxicated motorists pose threats to the safety and lives of the general

public, Chief Lysaght stressed.

From last July 1 to April 21, police patrol officers charged 68 motorists with

drunken driving. Of that number, 36 arrests were made on routine patrol and 13

arrests stemmed from motor vehicle accidents.

Patrol Officer Phil Hynes made the highest number of DWI arrests, at 11,

during that 42-week period. Five individual officers made six DWI arrests

each.

Chief Lysaght said he's been to too many serious alcohol-related accidents

over the years not to enforce the drunken driving laws. He stressed he is very

concerned about the damage that can be done by drunken drivers.

One of the most difficult tasks a police officer must face during his career

is notifying someone's parents that their child has died due to a drunken

driving accident, he said.

Chief Lysaght said he knows of no parent who wouldn't prefer to pay hundreds

of dollars in costs stemming from a drunken driving arrest, rather than have a

death in their family.

Springtime is a critical time for drunken driving incidents, the chief said.

Well-meaning parents may throw drinking parties for their children who are

under age 21, he said. But those parents are leaving themselves open to

criminal and civil prosecution, he said.

Such parties can result in charges of delivering alcohol to minors and

contributing to the delinquency of children, he said.

"It's a `lose-lose' situation," the chief said. "This is...left over from a

different era," he added. People are much more attuned to the hazards of

drunken driving than they were in the past, he said.

"Now it's seen as a life and death issue," Chief Lysaght said. Such parties

can result in tragedies and holding such events is misguided, he said.

"I don't (think) a party has to have alcohol to recognize a graduation," he

said.

While adults may take away youths' car keys to prevent them from driving, the

youths' having a second set of keys is not uncommon, Chief Lysaght said.

Of the stepped-up drunken driving enforcement, the chief said, "I'm very proud

of my (officers) and I think they're doing a very good job out there."

"We need the help of the community," he added.

In the near future, Newtown police and state police plan to hold a joint

drunken driving checkpoint to seek out intoxicated motorists, Chief Lysaght

said. At such joint checkpoints, officers methodically pull over motorists at

a fixed point to check whether they are intoxicated.