DWI Analysis Shows Winery-Heavy Southold Trailing in Arrests

With the help of new Chief , the Southold Town Police Advisory Committee recently released an analysis of driving while intoxicated arrests in Southold Town from 2006 up to October of this year.

The report, which was passed around to Southold Town Board members during a work session Tuesday morning, also compares DWI arrests in Southold to those reported by Suffolk County in Riverhead, Southampton and East Hampton during the years 2007, 2008 and 2009 (data is not per capita). Each of those years, the number of Southold arrests were less than those in the neighboring towns, according to the analysis (see attached PDFs for the full report).

SAMPLE STATS FROM POLICE ADVISORY REPORT:

Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell said during the work session that the police advisory committee compiled the stats in response to a recent Newsday editorial that questioned whether or not there is a bigger DWI problem in Southold than other towns due to the proliferation of wineries.

“A reporter asked me if there was a DWI problem in Southold, and I said yes, every town has a DWI problem,” Russell said at the work session. “We’re not any worse off because of the wineries — drinking and driving is drinking and driving no matter where you are, and I’m confident that our police force is doing everything they can to combat the problem.”

Chief Flatley agreed and said in an interview after the meeting at police headquarters that it is hard for an arresting officer to determine where the drunk driver is coming from — winery, bar or elsewhere.

“Maybe one out of 10 will tell you where they had been drinking or what they’ve been doing,” he said. “But once they’re read their rights, they don’t have to tell you, and most don’t.”

The report also shows that DWI arrests have declined about 14 percent per year in Southold from 2007 through 2011. Peak age groups for DWI arrests are consistent each year in the 25 to 29 and 45 to 49 age brackets. In 2010, about 65 percent of DWI arrests happened in the evening hours from 6 p.m. to 3 a.m. and about 35 percent occurred from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Chief Flatley said that about 60 percent of winery visitors take limos or other forms of transportation that allows them avoid driving themselves. Even so, he said that his department has recently adjusted their DWI enforcement to “reflect the winery trade a lot more.”

“We used to use all of our DWI funding from the county in the summer, now we are stretching it out into the fall and covering late afternoon and early evening shifts,” he said.