Drunk driving arrests in Wisconsin rose 150 percent in a recent law enforcement campaign that involved 173 agencies.
The Drunk Driving-Over the Limit. Under Arrest"" campaign took place between Aug. 17 to Sept. 3 and resulted in over 870 arrests for drunk driving in the state, according to George Silverwood, law enforcement liaison coordinator for the campaign.
It is more likely that the increase in arrests is not due to more drunk drivers being on the road this year than last year, but that individual officers and departments, according to Silverwood, applied more emphasis to it.
""[Law enforcement] agencies feel this is a serious problem, the public feels the same way,"" Silverwood said.
Silverwood also said 60 percent more law enforcement agencies participated in crackdown this year as opposed to last year, which would account partially for the increased numbers.
The increased attention caused by a federally funded media campaign against drunk driving may also be increasing vigilance among officers, Silverwood said. The commercials state similar anti-drunk driving messages that reinforce each individual officer's efforts.
""Officers see [the commercials], the same as the public,"" Silverwood said.
The various law enforcement agencies did not coordinate much in the campaign, despite the general goal of reducing drunk driving being the same statewide, according to Silverwood.
The Associated Press reported that the entire Wisconsin campaign included 8,237 citations overall, with 13,000 cars being stopped.
Locally, the Dane County Sheriff's Department and the Middleton Police Department participated in the campaign, according to Silverwood.
In Wisconsin drunk driving killed 305 people last year and injured close to 6,000, according to the Department of Transportation's website.
