The Foley Police Department, ranked sixth in the entire state for the largest number of drunk-driving arrests in Alabama cities, according to Alabama Live. These ranks were revealed by statistics compiled by the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences. Birmingham came in right behind Foley in the arrest race.
“We’ve been very proactive in this,” said Lt. Thurston Bullock, director of the Foley police patrol division. “We have one officer who was assigned specifically to this and who’s been able to focus his efforts on that, but it’s not just one officer. All of our officers have been very active in this.”
Our Birmingham DUI defense lawyers would like you to understand that when a particular department excels in their number of DUI arrests, it doesn’t mean that more drunk drivers are hitting our roadways. It typically means that officers are conducting more questionable stops. An experienced attorney needs to be contacted if you’ve been involved in one of these stops as charges can oftentimes be reduced or dismissed.
The Foley Police Department assigned officers to focus on tracking down and arresting drunk drivers in the city in 2008. During the same time period, the department created a DUI Enforcement unit. Both the unit and the designated officers were assigned to special details during holidays and other traffic-active times when drivers may be more likely to be drinking and driving.
The officer tied for third place statewide in the number of DUI citations and tickets written by a single officer. In 2010, he wrote more than one-third of the 305 citations issued for drunken driving in Foley.
The cities, listed in order, with the largest amount of DUI tickets issued were Huntsville with 989, Auburn with 473, Mobile with 453 and Decatur with 421.
Since then, the Foley Police Department has not broken down the arrest info to determine where the alleged drunk drivers lived; if they were residents or just motorists passing through. The Department of Forensic Sciences releases a yearly report with the total number of DUI arrests in Alabama.
Some estimate that roughly 1 in 4 victims facing a DUI charge are not convicted. If you’re facing a DUI charge, it’s up to you to be proactive in defending your rights.
