Considering it was a concerted local effort on behalf of a national campaign, you’d think the Maui Police Department would have arrested more people for drunk driving as part of its recent “Drive Sober Or Get Pulled Over” push. But according to a Sept. 2 news release from the department, just 57 out of the 240 arrests during the campaign were for drunk driving. The remaining 76 percent of arrests were for “miscellaneous traffic crime” (41 arrests) and “Traffic Warrant” (142 arrests), according to the news release.
“During this eighteen day campaign, which started on August 15th and ran through September 1st, police set up (17) intoxication control checkpoints in various locations throughout Maui County,” MPD Sergeant Nick Krau said in a Sept. 2 news release. “In addition police increased dedicated traffic enforcement saturation patrols using both marked and unmarked police vehicles. All traffic laws were strictly enforced during this campaign with an emphasis being placed on impaired driving.”
The department also issued 1,255 citations during the big push. The offense breakdown is as follows:
Uninsured Motorist citations issued: 220
Driving without a driver’s license citations issued: 112
Speeding citations issued: 139
Mobile Electronic Device (cell phone) citations issued: 49
Miscellaneous traffic violation citations issued: 735
Though such a small portion of the actual arrests had anything to do with drunk driving, Krau nonetheless insisted that the operation was a success in the department’s war on drinking and driving in all its forms.
“Too many families have already been devastated by the tragic, preventable deaths of loved ones in alcohol-involved crashes,” Krau said in the news release. “We want to put an end to these tragedies. We participated in the Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over campaign because we wanted to send a strong message, The Maui Police Department will not tolerate impaired driving in our community. Our goal is to gain the voluntary compliance of all traffic laws and by presenting an unmistakable show of force, and arresting impaired drivers who put lives at risk we are hoping to get our point across.”
(Disclosure: MauiTime Owner/Publisher Tommy Russo is currently suing the County of Maui over an alleged assault by a Maui police officer.)
Photo: Wset10/Wikimedia Commons
About Anthony Pignataro
Anthony Pignataro has been a journalist since 1996. He started work as MauiTime's Editor in 2003, took a couple years off starting in 2008, then returned to the staff in 2011. He's the author of "Stealing Cars With The Pros," a 2013 collection of his journalism and the Maui novels "Small Island" (2011) and "The Dead Season" (2012)–all of which were published by Event Horizon Press. In 2014, his one-act play "War Stories" won second place in the Maui Fringe Festival.
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