Every time a person gets pulled over on suspicion of Driving Under the Influence (DUI), police ask a series of questions. One of those questions is where they were drinking before getting into a car.
According to recently released numbers by the Washington Liquor Control Board, Federal Way had a relatively low number of drunk driving offenders who were at an establishment within the city. The board uses the answer to help determine which establishments could be over-serving.
During 2010, the board reported that 42 drunken drivers said they had their final drink in Federal Way before getting stopped and subsequently charged with DUI.
The data comes from what the board has dubbed the Worst Offenders List. It’s one of several tools authorities use to identify what the board calls locations of strategic interest.
“This does look good and it’s definitely a reduction,” said Cathy Schrock, a Federal Way police spokeswoman, about the Worst Offenders List. “But drinking and driving stats are up and down through the year, and as long as you have liquor establishments, you are going to have drinking and driving.”
The Federal Way Police Department knows the list isn’t a tell-tale sign of reduced drunk driving happening in the city. According to the Liquor Control Board, the people who give the data for this list are obviously drunk, and they could be lying, among other things.
The 2010 Worst Offenders DUI list is data compiled by law enforcement officers who asked people arrested on suspicion of DUI where they had their last drink.
According to the 2010 list, 6,631 people arrested for DUI gave a location, while thousands elected not to; drivers aren’t required to answer.
The 42 people arrested for DUI in 2010 who gave police a Federal Way bar as the location of their last drink is a far cry from cities of similar size around Washington and others in South King County. For example, the eighth largest city in the state, Yakima, had 146 drunken drivers during 2010 report that their last drink came at an establishment in the city limits. Yakima’s population of 91,067 is comparable to Federal Way’s population of 89,306.
Kent (92,411) had 116 DUI recipients tell police that they had their final drink at a city establishment. Auburn (70,180) had 107 people arrested for DUI report that they had their last drink there.
Schrock credits the preventative work by Federal Way police, especially by officers assigned to the swing and graveyard shifts.
“It’s routine for an officer to do patrols through these establishments,” she said. “Officers are assigned a beat and get to know the establishments. They drive through the area and just are present so people in the area see them. That’s definitely a deterrent.”
Other preventative strategies include walking through bars looking for possible patrons being over-served or other issues.
Federal Way has also been assisted by DUI-emphasis patrols organized by several law enforcement agencies in King County. The emphasis patrols are funded by the Washington State Traffic Safety Commission and specifically target DUIs.
They happen two to three times a month, Schrock said.
“Our officers stay in Federal Way during that time and are not answering other calls,” Schrock said. “Their only mission is DUIs. It’s common for them to make two, three, four stops in an hour.”
The Liquor Control Board’s Worst Offenders List also gives the police some target bars to patrol. Cafe Arizona led the Federal Way establishments with eight DUIs in 2010, according to the list. The Hitchin’ Post Saloon and Tao Restaurant and Lounge both had five people say they had their final drink there.
“The chief distributes this list to the department and that creates a target for our emphasis patrol,” Schrock said.
She also said that the department will do an evaluation of the establishment and send a letter to the bar’s owners asking them to do a better job of not over-serving.
The Liquor Control Board also uses the information to conduct stings regarding underage drinking and over-serving. If a bar is found to be in violation of any of the board’s rules, the establishment is subject to fines or a revoked liquor license.
Of all the people statewide who told police where they had their last drink and took the breath-alcohol test, the highest recorded BAC in 2010 was .39. The legal limit is .08.
The information on the Worst Offender List is not admissible in court and therefore is described as hearsay by the public records unit.
“Our message of presence is a huge step toward prevention of any crime,” Schrock said. “If you are having a lot of burglaries or thefts, you flood the area with presence and the problems start to go away.”
Check it out
View the Worst Offenders List by clicking here.
