SANATOGA PA – Lower Pottsgrove (PA) police arrested only two motorists last month (September 2009) for driving under the influence (DUI) of alcohol or other substances, Police Chief Michael Shade told the township Board of Commissioners Monday (Oct. 5, 2009). That compares to three such arrests for the same month in 2008, and eight arrests in 2007.

Fewer DUI arrests in September, but not for a lack of effort, a commissioner said.

And for the first time ever, according to the chief’s comprehensive monthly report, no arrests were made during a DUI checkpoint his department set up on Armand Hammer Boulevard.

Did the drunks get smarter, and simply avoid township highways? If so, Commissioner Stephen Klotz testified, it’s because they know the determined effort the department is making to catch them.

Klotz, during the board’s first of two monthly meetings in the township municipal building, 2199 Buchert Rd., Pottstown PA, described in detail observations he made as a ride-along guest at one such checkpoint. Officers were out in force over several hours, Klotz noted, but so too were fire department volunteers who helped provide additional lighting, and fire auxiliary members who supplied hot coffee.

“It was amazing to see,” Klotz said, congratulating all involved.

The police department invested more than 36 hours of overtime labor on DUI checkpoint work, Shade reported, costing an additional $1709. All of that expense and more – a total of $3651 in September – was reimbursed by federal and state law enforcement programs like “Drive Safe In PA,”, the chief said.

Proof the programs are working: police issued 165 tickets for traffic violations last month, 93 of which resulted from Drive Safe-supported events, according to Shade’s report.

In other traffic-related statistics for the month, the department:

• Responded to or investigated 25 motor vehicle accidents;
• Offered assistance 16 times to motorists whose vehicles were disabled or who were otherwise in need of help; and
• Seized three drivers’ licenses or automobile license plates.

The chief’s 9-page report is available for public inspection during regular business hours at the municipal building.

Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners’ Oct. 5 meeting):

• Detective Effort Credited In Bomb Threat Arrest
• County EIT Group Meets Oct. 28, Board Learns
• No Plans To Dredge Sanatoga Lake At $500,000
• Award-Winning Officer Pursues Drug Cases
• Lights, Camera … Hero; Top Officer Honored Tonight

Photo from Clipart.com

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