DUI Enforcement And Data Collection Earns PPD Public Safety Award
Puyallup PD earned the Partnership in Public Safety Award for its work recording data that showed where drunk drivers drank last.
By Travis Loose, Patch Staff
November 28, 2018
PUYALLUP, WA — For its work recording data that tracked where people who were arrested for impaired driving had last been served alcohol, the Puyallup Police Department received a Partnership in Public Safety Award from the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (LCB).
According to the state’s data, Puyallup’s officers submitted the highest rate of data collection per arrest across the whole of Washington. The information PPD officers collected, called Place of Last Drink (POLD) data, reportedly provides the LCB with insight as to where the over-service of alcohol may have occurred for each DUI-related arrest and/or crash.
“We depend on our fellow law enforcement partners to enter this data,” LCB Enforcement Chief Justin Nordhorn said in a statement. “Their participation plays a crucial role in preventing over-service and impaired driving. We’d like to commend Puyallup PD for their dedication to safe communities in Washington State.”
LCB officials reportedly use the data to inform oversight and education efforts for alcohol service licensees and their staff regarding over service prevention. The agency also noted national studies that reportedly show 50 percent of those arrested for impaired driving did their drinking at a liquor-licensed business.
The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) in 2010 published a study on “Preventing Alcohol-Related Problems Through Health Policy Research” — written by Robert B. Voas and James C. Fell, researchers in Maryland — that showed between 65 and 76 percent of the alcohol-serving businesses tested weren’t shy about serving visibly intoxicated people participating in the study.
The studies cited by Voas and Fell were reportedly influential in the establishment of the POLD data-collection program and others like it. The POLD project was officially incorporated into police departments beginning in spring 2014.
“While it is nice to be recognized as an agency by the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board, the credit really goes to our officers who work tirelessly to arrest impaired drivers” PPD Chief Scott Engle said. “They are the ones who are truly making our community safer day in and day out.”