Today I'm happy to report there's some good news regarding DWI in today's Buffalo News. The bracelets that chronic drunk drivers had to wear as part of their sentence are working in Buffalo and Niagara Falls. In case you're not familiar with these bracelets, they measure alcohol through the skin and take a reading at least once an hour. The program is paid for through grants. Some of these offenders are coming from the county's newly established DWI court. I also agree with this concept, a specially designed court - established primarily to deal with drinking and driving.
According to Patrick Lakamp's article in this morning's Buffalo News:
None of the 61 offenders was arrested again for drunken driving during the program’s first year in Buffalo and Niagara Falls courtrooms. Only a handful tampered with the monitoring device or were caught consuming alcohol.
Offenders:
• Tampered with the bracelets or failed to show up in court six times.
• Failed four drug tests out of 215 given.
• Fully passed unannounced breath tests during probation home visits.
• Showed up at 95 percent of 1,007 scheduled individual treatment visits and 2,420 group counseling sessions.
• Attended 3,330 support group meetings sponsored by Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous or some other group.
I couldn't be happier to see that most of these DWI offenders are following the rules of the bracelets, and I'm even more pleased that more towns are following the lead set by the two cities. Lackawanna, Tonawanda, and Lockport are all set to start the program in 2009, and Jamestown, Dunkirk, and Batavia will be following their lead later next year.
I agree with Erie County STOP DWI coordinator John Sullivan that these DWI offenders are being watched and monitored even though they're not in jail. I wonder if the offender who killed Karen was a part of this program ten years ago, perhaps that crash would have never happened.
Deanna
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