The following is an email from Lt. Christopher Cook with the Arlington Police Department in response to NBC 5's investigative piece on alcohol-related crashes in the city.
We are always committed to reducing alcohol-related injuries and deaths as this issue affects every community. APD has a robust public education campaign that compliments are vigorous enforcement efforts targeting impaired drivers. The City of Arlington will also continue to lobby our State for sobriety checkpoints to serve as an additional tool to remove intoxicated drivers from our roadways. Here is a sample of some of our proactive initiatives:
- APD has increased the number of DWI Task Force surge periods to better align enforcement personnel around major holidays. We also continue to institute “No Refusal” policies during these surges and reallocate patrol staffing to assist in traffic enforcement directed patrols.
- We produce monthly citywide hot spot maps that track our top DWI-crash locations so we can deploy our officers and resources in the most prolific areas.
- We will continue to lobby for sobriety checkpoints as an additional tool for DWI detection and apprehension.
- APD has a robust public education campaign with presentations at UT-Arlington, Tarrant County College, and Arlington/Mansfield ISD. By the time a student has graduated from AISD, they have heard our presentation at least once.
- APD partners with Bartenders Against Drunk Driving, MADD, and Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) to ensure compliance with alcohol laws and hold businesses accountable to ensure responsible serving policies are in place.
- Our Media Office produces educational videos and products to continue the community conversation on this important topic. Arlington Police Explorers were the actors in one video targeting a younger audience.
- Our stadiums are some of the most responsible partners we have when it comes to serving alcohol in our Entertainment District. More than 6.5 million visitors frequented our Entertainment District last year and we work hand-in-hand with stadium management and security personnel to reduce the likelihood that an intoxicated person gets behind the wheel when leaving an event.
- Non-fatality DWI crashes are trending down slightly representing only 6% of total crashes city-wide.
