|
The Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office is being recognized for its aggressive methods to curb drunken driving by being asked to help determine DUI training for Illinois court personnel. Kane County Assistant State’s Attorneys Clint Hull, the office’s First Assistant, and Steve Sims, chief of the office’s DUI and Traffic units, have been invited by the Institute for Legal, Legislative and Policy Studies of the Center for State Policy and Leadership at the University of Illinois-Springfield to serve on a DUI Advisory Committee.
According to the university, the committee would meet annually to discuss training needs and future DUI-related trends. The invitations, which were extended because of their “knowledge, expertise and commitment to the field,” have been accepted by Hull and Sims. The Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office in recent years has sought and enacted many aggressive and innovative programs to curb drunken driving.
In April 2007, the office began offering some defendants the option of wearing the Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitor (SCRAM). The device serves as an alternative to jail, helping defendants who are not allowed to consume alcohol curb their drinking. It attaches to a participant’s ankle and cannot be removed. It can determine if an individual has been drinking by testing perspiration once an hour. Within a year, Kane County became Illinois’ largest user of SCRAM. More than 250 defendants have been ordered to wear it by 10 Kane County judges with a 90 percent compliance rate. Defendants on average wear the SCRAM bracelet for 200 days. SCRAM gained national attention last summer when actress Lindsay Lohan was ordered to wear it to help curb problematic alcohol use.
On Dec. 31, 2007, the Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office, in conjunction with the Schaumburg-based Alliance Against Intoxicated Motorists (AAIM) and with the assistance of Kane County police agencies, implemented Drunkbusters, a program in which citizens can receive a $100 reward for reporting drunken drivers to the police. Under the Drunkbusters program, a person who witnesses and reports an impaired driver to police will be paid $100 by AAIM if the phone tip results in a DUI arrest. Drunkbusters, started in 1990 by AAIM, also is used by DuPage, Lake, Will and McHenry counties. Drunkbusters has paid more than $300,000 in nearly 20 years, and is funded through court fines paid by DUI offenders.
On Memorial Day Weekend this year, the Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office conducted its first “No Refusal” weekend. The initiative sought to thwart repeat DUI offenders’ attempts to circumvent the law by refusing to submit to a breath test by obtaining a warrant that ordered the suspect to provide a BAC sample or face additional criminal charges. The initiative involved the Batavia, Geneva and St. Charles police departments, as well as the Kane County Sheriff’s Department and the Illinois State Police.
Fourteen DUI offenders were brought in during the detail, and six suspects immediately agreed to submit to a breath test. Eight suspects initially refused to submit to a BAC test (breath, urine or blood). When told by an Assistant State’s Attorney that a search warrant would be sought that would order the suspect to provide a BAC sample, four agreed to submit to a breath test before the warrant was prepared and presented to the judge. Four warrants were prepared, presented to a judge and then signed. Among the eight who initially refused, seven samples were provided – one blood sample and six breath samples. When presented with the signed warrant, one person continued to refuse to submit to a BAC test. The state since has petitioned the court to find him in indirect criminal contempt for refusing to comply with a court order.
Although many jurisdictions in the United States have used warrants to obtain BAC samples, and the practice is recommended by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Kane County was the first jurisdiction in Illinois to announce it would implement the practice. The city of Peoria conducted a similar sting on Memorial Day Weekend. The Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office plans to conduct similar initiatives in the future.
“I believe there is a direct correlation between aggressive DUI prosecutions and traffic fatalities,” Kane County State’s Attorney John Barsanti said. “The greater emphasis we place on aggressive prosecution, the fewer lives we lose on the highways. This is a priority of this office.”
|
