The Starkville Police Department is cracking down on DUIs and underage drinking in 2007. After receiving a $35,000 grant from the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, the SPD plans to use the money to enforce DUI and other alcohol related offenses.”The grant funds will allow us to fund overtime for DUI enforcement officers, as well as the purchase of new equipment to aid officers in DUI cases, students can expect to see a more active enforcement of DUI’s and underage drinking in 2007,” said SPD Sgt. Shawn Word.
Students can expect more roadblocks and as the SPD steps up its enforcement of alcohol related offenses. “Starting Friday night, we will be out on the streets and in the bars actively looking for underage drinking and DUIs. DUI offenders come from every walk of life. We aren’t out looking for students. We are looking for DUIs,” Word said.
Officers Tim Cook and Chad Williams have been designated as DUI enforcement officers. In 2006, Cook made 179 DUI arrests, becoming the second officer in Starkville history to make 100 DUI arrests in one year. Word became the first officer to make 100 DUI arrests in 2003.
Williams and Cook patrol the Starkville area every night in patrol cars marked “DUI enforcement officer.”
The officers will be actively searching bars and checking IDs in search of underage drinking. “If you are underage, you will get stopped,” Word said. The officers will also be making an effort to stop the use of fake IDs.
“A lot of kids think they are okay to drive, but they don’t realize that one ounce of alcohol from a shot or mixed drink is equal to a 12-ounce beer. If you have a Long Island iced tea with seven ounces of liquor in it, you’ve had the equivalent of 7 beers,” Word said. The legal limit of alcohol ingestion for those over 21 is .08; the under- age limit is .02.
A typical DUI case will involve a field sobriety test and a breathalyzer examination. Any offender who blows over the legal limit will be arrested and taken to the Starkville Police Department for a mandatory five-hour stay in jail. If the arrest takes place after 10 p.m., the offender will not be allowed to bail out until 8 a.m. the next day and will spend the night in jail.
If convicted of first-degree DUI, any offenders will lose their licenses for 90 days, and insurance costs will likely increase. Refusing to take a breathalyzer test will add an extra 90 days to a suspended license.
Starkville currently has 98 percent conviction rate for DUIs. A typical first offense DUI charge will cost $7,000 on average.
DUI enforcement officer Tim Cook encourages students to use the various taxi and shuttle services available to them.
“Don’t get in your car and drive. Take the shuttle or call the police department, and we will give you the numbers to any taxi service. We will be out every night looking for DUIs,” he said.