A Grand Prairie officer is being honored as one of the best in Texas at keeping drunk drivers off the roads.
More than 500 impaired drivers were pulled over last year in the city of Grand Prairie. Officer Greg Parker was responsible for 88 DWI arrests in 2012 and 115 DWI arrests in 2011.
The Texas Municipal Police Association recognized Officer Parker as one of the top ten officers in Texas for DWI arrests for the second year in a row.
"I've made the arrest and I've sentenced myself to hours of paperwork, hours of court, but you know what, that person that was not free to drive down the road and possibly hurt themselves or somebody else," Parker said.
Officer Parker said a close friend of his was killed by a drunk driver in 2005. Since then, he has been on a mission to keep as many drunk drivers off the roadways as possible.
"Last year he had 88 DWI arrests here in the city of Grand Prairie, and the year before in 2011 he had 115," said Grand Prairie Police Chief Steve Dye. "He was being compared to the officers who were in full time DWI units. Greg has additional traffic and collision investigative responsibilities."
Chief Dye said Officer Parker has inspired him to take another step toward being more proactive when it comes to pulling over impaired drivers.
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"We are in the process of looking to create an evening time traffic unit, and a big part of the responsibility would be DWI enforcement," Chief Dye said.
Mothers Against Drunk Driving reported 1213 fatalities resulted from driving under the influence in 2012 throughout the state.
"It's such an easy crime to prevent because the choice is all on the person that does the offense," Officer Parker said.
