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Hawaii Tribune-Herald Hilo, Hawaii Page 1 of 2 . '~acuctCi ~ Print Page ~ Y 0~ i lv..wr DUI arrests on the rise by Alan Schnepf Tribune-Herald Staff Writer Big Island police are making DUI arrests in record numbers this year, especially in the Hilo area. Through July 16, police nabbed 714 suspected drivers, compared with 652 during the same period in 2006. Most of the difference came from increased enforcement in the South Hilo District, which stretches from south of Hilo to Hakalau. DUIs in South Hilo have increased 30 percent this year to 224. Still, the number of DUIs given in East Hawaii is far less than on the leeward side of the island. Police have issued 335 DUIs in the Kona district this year, even though its population is much smaller than South Hilo. "People always ask about the numbers on the Kona side and we always give them the standard answer," Hawaii Police Department Sgt. Dexter Veriato said. -'All the roads there funnel into Kona town. In Hilo, you have a lot more surface streets." Veriato said that makes for more territory to cover on the east side, but his department has been developing strategies to "even up the numbers" of DUI arrests. Among those strategies are more frequent checkpouits and more "roving," especially in targeted areas. Hilo has been "saturated" with officers, and Highway 11 in the Kurtistown area has attracted attention. It's also common to see officers waiting for speeders on the "Panaewa Stretch" of Highway 11. Veriato said DUI arrests are not rare there, either. The Keaau-Pahoa Bypass Road continues to be a tai get. Veriato said when he was a patrol officer, he would wait on the side of the road during late-night hours and stop a vehicle with aburned-out headlight. More often than not, they had been drinking, he said. While the number of DUI arrests is up this year, the number of major crashes has declined 18 percent [01,132. Jackie Murai, the police department's traffic safety coordinator, said people may simply be driving more safely. "We're hoping it's because of people being more aware of safety issues," she said. "WeYe tried to increase public awareness though the media and advertising," The number of traffic fatalities has remained the sane this year, though, with 18. The percentage of fatalities involving alcohol remains higher on the Big Island than the rest of the state, Veriato said. While fewer than half of traffic deaths are alcohol-related statewide, Hawaii County's percentage consistently sits between 55 percent and 60 percent. A statewide beefing-up of DUI arrests is scheduled for next month, and Veriato expects the increased enforcement to continue well into the future. "I think next year the numbers are going to increase," Veriato said. "The more you go out and look for them, the more you're going to find." http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/articles/2007/07/19/local news/loca106.prt 7/25/2007