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May 15, 2008

Police honored for making DUI arrests

By Kim Sloan

Weaving. Reckless driving.

Those are some of the clues police look for that alert them that someone may be driving while under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Dalton Police Officer Chris Tucker knows those signs well. Last year Tucker made 50 DUI arrests. Officers Ryan Shope and William Bryan made 25 arrests each.

Those officers, along with Officer James Zahn, were honored by the Georgia chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) last month for their efforts in keeping drunk drivers off the road.

The Dalton Police Department made 513 DUI arrests last year. Of 1,278 wrecks in the city last year, only 3.5 percent were related to a driver under the influence, according to the department.

Officer Steve Zahn with the traffic unit attributes those numbers to the hard work of the patrol officers, who conduct saturated patrols looking for drunk drivers.

Tucker agrees.

“I remember when I started working in Dalton in ‘96 we used to get a lot of DUIs,” Tucker said. “I used to have my eyes closed going to a call because I would see DUIs and I would have to go answer calls.”

The thought that someone is driving drunk is frightening, Tucker said. Shope recalled an arrest where the man was so drunk he fell down after getting out of the car.

“Sometimes we don’t get them in time and they’ve had an accident,” Tucker said. “Sometimes I feel like for every one I catch, three went by me.”

The officers said there is no one area in Dalton where drunk driving is more prevalent.

“They are all over,” Tucker said.

And Dalton police officers will be all over the roads looking for drunk drivers this summer. Dalton police will participate in several enforcement efforts, Zahn said. On Memorial Day weekend, 100 Days of Summer Heat begins. The “Heat” is a statewide effort that not only concentrates on drunk drivers but also reckless drivers and people not wearing seat belts.

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