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Arrests for charges of drunk driving in Georgia have declined by almost 20 percent over the last 10 years as punishments for the crime and public awareness campaigns have increased, state officials say.
According to data released by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, more than 45,000 people were arrested in 2005 for driving under the influence as opposed to 57,224 in 1995.
Some officials believe the decline could be a result of fewer available resources for law enforcement, but others say that awareness campaigns and educational messages have proved effective.
Bob Dallas, director of the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety believes the public is really responding to drunk-driving ads. He said the number of fatalities caused by DUI incidents in 2004—1,634—haven’t increased in the past 10 years even though the population of the state has been increasing.
Dallas said that more money has been spent on DUI education over the last decade and more law enforcement agencies set up roadblocks to look for drunk drivers.
Harsher penalties passed in the late 1990s may be another reason DUI arrests have dropped. Brian Golden, president of the Georgia Association of Police Chiefs said that DUI arrests are followed by mandatory jail time. Additionally, a fourth DUI charge is considered a felony. Large fines, probation expenses, license suspensions, and increased insurance premiums may also be contributing factors to the decline.
Spokesman for the Bibb County Sheriff’s Department, Capt. David Davis, says the lack of resources for law enforcement may also result in less DUI arrests. He says processing a DUI now takes up to several hours as opposed to the time it took 15 years ago and many officers don’t have time to make more arrests.
Furthermore, law enforcement face more challenges in order to secure a case. “You have to have an ironclad case before you can get a conviction,” Davis said.
Throughout the nation, DUI arrests have varied slightly with 1,436,000 arrests in 1995 to 1,471,000 in 2000 to 1,433,000 in 2004, according to FBI statistics.
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