WAUKEGAN TOPS POLICE DEPARTMENTS IN DUI ARRESTS

Schaumburg, March 20, 2002: Since 1990, the Alliance Against Intoxicated Motorists (AAIM) has conducted an annual survey of Illinois police departments to determine how many DUI arrests they make and to give recognition to the most productive departments and police officers. The most important deterrent to drunk driving is law enforcement. AAIM not only praises these officers, but we want to encourage officers to keep up the fight against drunk driving.

Waukegan Police Department has finished first in the state in DUI arrests among municipal departments. (Because of its size, Chicago is in its own category.) Waukegan has been a perennial top-ten police department in AAIM’s DUI ranking. According to Chief Miguel Juarez, his department’s priority is to keep citizens and their families safe.

In 2001, Waukegan officers arrested 942 DUI offenders. Naperville was second with 870 arrests, followed by Rockford (650), Elgin (562), Aurora (554), Grayslake (527) and Buffalo Grove (504).

The highest DUI arrest rate in the state among departments making at least 100 arrests was Grayslake for the second year in a row which had 20.3 (16.8 in 2000) arrests per sworn officer. The second highest rate of 13.9 was in Lindenhurst. Lake Co. contains seven of the top 15 departments by arrest rate.

Grayslake Police Sgt. Dave Williams was Illinois’ Top Cop with 180 DUI arrests.

AAIM also commends the life-saving efforts of Lake Co. Deputy Sheriff Darryl Lewellan with 173 arrests and Rockford Police Office Darin D. Spades with 159 arrests. The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) will recognize these top cops at a ceremony to be held in Springfield in October. “When police chiefs make it a priority to get impaired drivers off the roads, lots of arrests are made,” said Chapman.

In a familiar pattern, the regions of the state with the strongest DUI enforcement are DuPage Co., which accounts for ten of the state’s top departments and Lake Co., which account for nine departments. The Northwest suburbs account for eight of the state’s top departments. There are four south suburban departments in the top (Aurora – 5^th, Oak Lawn – 15^th, Chicago Heights – 22^nd and Orland Park – 29^th), and only one near west suburban department (Cicero – 10^th).

“More DUI arrests in the Northwest suburbs and in DuPage and Lake Counties don’t necessarily mean there are more drunk drivers in those regions than in the rest of the state,” said AAIM Executive Director Charlene Chapman. “It does indicate a more active enforcement effort targeting DUI by those departments compared to other departments.”

The size of the department isn’t the key factor, Chapman said, noting that some departments with fewer than 40 officers (such as Lake Zurich and Roselle) make far more DUI arrests than departments with more than 150 officers (such as Evanston, Springfield and Decatur).

The biggest increases in arrests among the top departments were in Oak Brook where DUI arrests jumped by 244.6% in 2001 compared to 2000, Chicago Heights (222.8%), Lindenhurst (130.1%), and Oak Lawn (73.3% - last year jumped 142%). "It’s highly unlikely that such big increases in arrests indicate corresponding increases in impaired drivers on the roads in those towns; it just means more of them were being detected and arrested last year compared to previous years,” Chapman said.

Chicago police made fewer arrests in 2001 (6,016) than in 2000 (6,617), while Illinois State Police increased arrests by 40% in 2001 (10,049) compared to 2000 (7,160). The sheriff’s department reporting the most DUI arrests was in Lake County (623), while Winnebago (388), Will (324), Rock Island (267), and McHenry (224) counties round out the top five sheriff departments. (Cook County failed to respond to the survey.)

For a full list of Illinois departments click here.