As the State legislature struggles to solve a $42 billion deficit, the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) recently awarded the Contra Costa County Probation Department a grant of $620,115 to pay for the supervision of felony DUI offenders on probation.
This money will be used to pay the salaries for two probation officers for two years, and other administration costs, according to Probation Supervisor Laurie Barnes.
“I don’t have a breakdown on exactly how the money will be spent,” Barnes told the Gazette last week. “But the majority of the grant is probably going to pay for [the] salaries and particulars such as drug testing, overtime and training.”
Each earning at least $125,000 per year, the two probation officers will each have a caseload of about 50 people who are on parole for DUI.
“Intensified supervision will include random urinalysis tests, breath tests and unannounced visits to the home of the offender, along with special enforcement operations in conjunction with local law enforcement agencies,” said Barnes.
“The probation officers see the offenders twice a month.”
“We’re happy that the Contra Costa County Probation Department continues to target the worst-of-the-worst,” said Christopher J. Murphy, Director of the OTS. “These repeat offenders need the supervision this grant facilitates, keeping themselves and everyone else safer on our roadways.”
“Intensive supervision by these deputies through increased contacts, home searches, and drug and alcohol use testing protocols will help ensure these offenders adhere to compliance levels of their court orders and in abstaining from the use of alcohol,” according to the County’s Web site DUI page.
The DUI Enforcement Program has been in place in Contra Costa County since 2006. County data demonstrating the effectiveness of the program to date is unavailable, but statewide, persons killed in alcohol-involved collisions increased marginally from 1,769 in 2005 to 1,779 in 2006, according to the California Office of Traffic Safety reports
However, the OTS also states in its most recent California Traffic Safety Report Card, “Alcohol related fatalities dropped 8.3 percent from 1,762 in 2006 to 1,616 in 2007 – first year to year decrease since 1997-98, Alcohol Impaired Driving Fatalities (fatalities in crashes involving a least one driver or motorcycle operator with a Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) of 0.08 or greater) decreased 9.5 percent from 1,276 in 2006 to 1,155 in 2007 – represents California’s first year to year reduction since 1997-98, and statewide DUI arrests increased 3.4 percent from 197,248 in 2006 to 203,866 in 2007 – represents the most DUI arrests since 1994, according to the California Department of Justice.
Receiving more than four DUI convictions in a ten-year span constitutes felony probation, and officers “holds offenders accountable by enforcing court orders and through supervision in the community,” said Barnes in a prepared press release issued this month.
“We continue to be concerned by the high number of DUI cases in the County, especially repeat offenders,” said County Probation Officer Lionel Chatman. “It appears that many of these individuals have not gotten the message about drinking and driving. This funding will allow the department to focus more resources on the problem.”
The Office of Traffic Safety also granted the California Highway Patrol $6,394,983.00 for their 2009 Sobriety Checkpoint Operations and Roving DUI Enforcement.
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