INTERESTING DUI FIGURES

In the first 4 months of 2007, West Chester Police filed 64 DUI cases in the two district courts in the borough and at District Court 15-2-06 in Downingtown (whose jurisdiction includes East Bradford) - 25 cases filed at 15-1-01, 36 cases filed at 15-1-04, and at least 3 cases filed at 15-2-06 (determining the 15-2-06 figures weren't as easy when you factor in the court also handles cases filed by the Downingtown and Birmingham Police Departments and PSP/Embreeville).

For the first four months of 2006, WCPD made 63 arrests (which include both the borough and East Bradford) with a total of 236 DUI cases for the department for the entire year; in the first four months of 2005, 71 DUI arrests were logged, leading to a total of 198 DUI arrests. If these trends hold, it wouldn't be shocking at all if WCPD ends up with more DUI arrests this year than last year.

To put this into further perspective, only three other county departments had triple digit DUI arrest counts in 2006: Tredyffrin (176), West Whiteland (115), and West Goshen (105). Other notable numbers show 64 DUI arrests by Downingtown Police, 53 by Birmingham Twp, and 48 by the Westtown-East Goshen Regional Police. The only other law enforcement agency in the county that has higher DUI arrest totals than West Chester in 2006 were the two Chester County PSP stations (troopers from Embreeville logged 342 arrests, Avondale 285).

All 2006 figures were obtained from the Pennsylvania State Police Uniform Crime Report online databse; the 2007 counts were calcuated after reviewing on-line docket sheets at the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts (AOPC) public record web site. The 2007 figures are unofficial and final figures for 2007 won't be officially released until early next February when the WCPD issues it's annual report.

These figures seem particulary relevant in light of Wednesday's hearing by the Pennsylvania Senate Democratic Policy Committee, hosted by State Sen. Andrew Dinniman (D-19th). At least 8 other state senators also participated in the hearing, including two State Senators Philadelphia - Vince Fumo (yes, THAT Vince Fumo) and Anthony Hardy Williams, and State Senator Connie Williams (D-17th), whose district includes the college towns Lower Merion and Radnor. The fact that a hearing in West Chester on any issue can bring nearly 20 percent of the entire Pennsylvania State Senate, much less the issues of the effects on liquor licenses on college towns such as West Chester, State College, and Kutztown, is staggering and appears to indicate that Harrisburg may be taking many of the issues faced by West Chester and similar towns very seriously.

I anticipate commenting further on this particular issue in a few days, time permitting.