Police urge, offer DUI alternatives
By MARGIE KACOHA, Daily News Staff Writer
Sunday, December 24, 2006

Drivers who get behind the wheel in Palm Beach after having too much to drink are gambling with an unpleasant encounter with the police.

But residents and guests who’ve overindulged can make the encounter much more amicable by staying off the road and calling Palm Beach police instead.

The Police Department endorses the general advice of relying on a designated driver when attending holiday parties. However, failing that, police remain ready to help Palm Beachers get home safely.

The department is continuing its long-standing policy of providing a ride to residents who feel they have had too much to drink to get behind the wheel.

Residents would receive a ride directly to their homes. Guests who live outside the community also can benefit from the service. According to police spokeswoman Janet Kinsella, Palm Beach police will help make other arrangements, such as contacting family members or local taxi companies.

Police provide the service throughout the year but give it more prominence during the holiday season.

Kinsella said no one in the department wants to see a resident lose a family member or loved one in a traffic fatality.

She said law enforcement officers will be looking for drunken or impaired drivers this time of year.

Last year, police in Palm Beach made 39 DUI arrests. This year, the total is up to 25 as the New Year approaches.

According to statistics cited by Kinsella, 23,864 alcohol-related crashes were reported throughout the state in 2005. The number of fatalities was 1,239.

Manalapan Police Chief Clay Walker said his department has no established policy of driving residents home.

“But our attitude is ‘Let us help you,’ if someone calls,” he said. “We would encourage people to drink intelligently.”

Drunken driving is barely an issue in the small, affluent community. Walker said his records indicate officers made two DUI arrests last year and one so far this year.

In South Palm Beach, Chief Roger Crane reported seven DUI arrests this year and four in 2005.

“We don’t have a policy in place,” Crane said of providing transportation. “But if it came to our attention, we would do what we could to assist them.

“If we catch them behind the wheel, we’ll drive them to 3228 Gun Club Road,” he said in reference to the Palm Beach County Jail.

Police should be dui helpers not dui hunters. When the only encounters people have with police are speeding on freeways, marijuana, breaking up parties and DUIs it not only erodes respect for law enforcment especially in the young who fear arrest for underage alcohol consumption. I call these social crimes because they represent acts that are legal in some countries and not in others to varying decrees. This makes the youth afraid to call the police when they need them and makes citizens who become jurors suspicious of law enforcement. We would all do well to decriminalize social crimes and make ordinary citizens encounters with police amicable and not adversial.

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