In Miami, alcohol-related fatalities and auto accidents have remained the same. Yet arrests for driving under the influence (DUI) have gone down more than 50%. Why do you think that is?
Law enforcement officials in the city are blaming the lack of officers to work DUI patrols. There are too many other crimes and perhaps there are fewer intoxicated people on the road. Is this a crock of bull or what? As reported in www.miamiherald.com.
The decline in DUI enforcement is troubling to critics who don’t believe fewer people are driving while drunk or high on drugs.
And gruesome, high-profile cases are still making headlines — this past week, a Key Biscayne pop musician was sentenced to 12 years in prison for the DUI hit-and-run that killed a cyclist.
Earlier this year, a drunken bartender and self-described “party princess” Karlie Tomica plowed into a chef walking across the street.
In Miami, officers in 2012 hauled off to jail over 1,000 suspected drunken drivers. In the first half of this year — just 327. Up north in Miami Gardens, where officers nabbed 94 inebriated drivers in 2010, cops in the first half of this year cuffed just 16.
In Doral, a police department that focuses heavily on traffic enforcement, the drop has been drastic. In 2010, cops busted 191 drunken drivers. Halfway through this year? Just 34.
There needs to be increased vigilance by law enforcement for DUI. It is somewhat disconcerting to think they are neglecting the enforcement of a law that could cause the death of innocent people.