WI: Law enforcement receives grant for drunk driving

WEAU

October 8, 2015

CHIPPEWA FALLS, Wis. (WEAU) — The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says since 2009, the state of Wisconsin has the highest rate of drunken driving arrests in the nation. The Chippewa Falls Police Department and the Chippewa County Sheriff’s Department received a grant that will allow them to put more officers on shifts to crack down on drunken driving.

Public Information Officer, Robert Teuteberg, explains the purpose of the grant.

“It’s going to be a year-long grant where we are assigning extra patrol officers shifts on specific nights where we will go out and those officers will solely focus on drunk driving enforcement.”

He says that they got the grant because there are so many drunk drivers on the road.

“Last year, we had over 110 drunk driving arrests for our department. That’s just the city of Chippewa Falls alone. We’re already at that number at this time of the year and obviously we’ll surpass that.”

Teuteberg explains that there’s no reason to drive after you’ve been drinking.

“Particularly in the city, we do have several cab services. There’s some shared ride programs, so there are options available for people to get rides home from taverns, should they have consumed too much.”

And even if your drive is a short one, Teuteberg says that the price you’ll pay isn’t worth the drive.

“The citation for the first amount is around $900. That’s just the fine amount. Now you’re talking an alcohol assessment, increased insurance costs, other penalties and then the social stigma that goes along with a drunken driving arrest.”

The police and sheriff’s department got the grant last week and have already added the extra patrols.