How Do the Tri-Cities Stack Up on DUI Arrests?

By Darren McRoy 

The 126 sworn police officers employed by the Tri-Cities arrested 223 drunken drivers in 2012 — an average of 1.77 DUI arrests per officer, according to the Alliance Against Intoxicated Motorists, which this week released its annual survey of Illinois DUI arrests.

That falls on the lower end of the spectrum in 52 western suburbs.

In St. Charles, the numbers would appear to discount the occasional criticisms that police are too diligent about cracking down on drunken drivers. St. Charles officers arrested 135 drunken drivers in 2012, averaging 2.6 DUI arrests for each of the department’s 52 officers, according to AAIM’s figures, which placed St. Charles at No. 20 on the list.

The Geneva Police Department made 54 DUI arrests in 2012, 1.54 arrests per each of its 35 sworn officers. It’s average is less than the 2.33 arrests per officer in West Chicago, but greater than the 1.4 average for DuPage County, 1.18 for Kane County, and .97 in Batavia.

The Batavia Police Department has 39 sworn officers who netted 34 DUI arrests in 2012.

AAIM’s survey contains 2012 arrest data for all Illinois counties and for nearly all towns. The above chart shows the data for west-Chicago towns, sorted by DUI arrest rate per sworn officer.

“One reason AAIM continues to survey and report the number of impaired driving arrests throughout Illinois because traffic safety advocates believe that drunk drivers who are arrested are the fortunate ones," AAIM Board Vice President and crash survivor, Marti Belluschi said in a press release.

"In our impaired driving prevention programs, we always remind people that if they are driving drunk they are lucky if it is a cop that stops them, rather than a tree, another car or a small child."

The village of Itasca had the highest arrest rate per officer in the entire state of Illinois (11.48). The city of Naperville had the second highest overall number of arrests (662), surpassed only by Rockford.

— Ted Schnell contributed.