By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
The Buchanan County Sheriff's Office has received a state grant that will help create a new position to combat impaired driving.
Captain Mike Hess says the grant will help pay the salary and purchase a vehicle for the next three years to specifically focus on impaired drivers.
Hess says over the past three years there has been a significant amount of impaired driving arrests
"That was just through patrol regular activities, there wasn't a focus per say, with those numbers being so high we decided we need a focused person or unit which is what we're moving towards," Hess tells KFEQmunnity host Brent Martin. "Our numbers alone, last year we had 94 DWI arrests, the year before we had over 150."
Hess says that's just the Buchanan County Sheriff's Office. He adds that in 2023, four officers between the Sheriff's Office, the St. Joseph Police, and the Missouri Highway Patrol had over 450 DWI arrests.
Hess says often these impaired drivers might think they are fine driving a short distance, or perhaps have even made the drive before while impaired
"I think statistically the average DWI arrest has driven up to 80 times prior to their first arrest, meaning 80 times impaired on some level," Hess explains.
Hess says your odds of encountering someone that is driving impaired is quite high, especially on the weekend
"On the weekdays, think about this, between 10am and 1pm, one in 13 drivers are legally drunk, and that's during the weekdays," Hess points out.
Hess says the new position will simply have one goal in mind
"We want to just get impaired drives off the road and it's not necessarily about anything other than making the roadways safer, period that's it, nothing else that's our focus," Hess says. "To keep the community safe, make the roadways safer for everyone to travel on, and reduce impaired crashes, because if we can reduce that maybe we can reduce the fatality crashes or injuries that effect people's lives."
Hess says the grant will help pay the salary and purchase a vehicle for the next three years to specifically focus on impaired drivers. The new position must go into effect by October 1st.
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