Crime & Safety

Drunken Driving Arrests Down in Greendale

The decrease mirrors a similar trend in the Milwaukee suburbs, where OWI arrests are down 30 percent in the last five years.

Patch's Charlie Gorney contributed to this story.

Greendale has seen a decrease in drunken driving arrests over the last five years, and police officials are saying efforts to make the crime less socially acceptable are working.

According to a Patch analysis of state arrest data, a five-year trend shows a 63-percent decrease in Greendale OWI arrests from 2007 to 2012. In the Milwaukee suburbs, OWI arrests are collectively down 30 percent overall.

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Greendale police made 180 arrests in 2007, but just 66 last year, a six-year low for data that goes back to 2007.

Greendale Captain Jeff Zainer said the village continues to make OWI enforcement a priority and that in 2009, Greendale police partnered with the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Department as an unfunded partner in the Southeast Wisconsin Multi-Jurisdiction High-Visibility OWI Task Force.

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The department has spent an average of $9,000 to target OWI arrests and participate in the media effort to announce these saturation patrols that take place throughout Milwaukee County.

“Having officers dedicated to these patrols has had a positive effect on reducing drunk driving,” Zainer said. “It is no longer socially tolerated and it is our belief that driving under the influence is decreasing. The years of education, publicity, the reduction in the BAC from .10 to .08, and the increase in penalties are all working together to reduce OWIs.”

The only other communities in the Patch coverage area with drops at rates similar to Greendale’s are Saukville and Bayside, but Zainer said the drops have nothing to do with staffing levels.

“Our staffing has been consistent since 2007 and they certainly are not looking the other way,” he said. “OWI arrests now have a stigma attached and more people are making better choices to avoid the loss of driving privilege, huge fines, and increased insurance costs. Yes, there are still drunk drivers but at much lower levels. The goal is compliance and if it were just Greendale seeing the decrease I would be concerned. The drop is statewide.”

What The Numbers Say


The decline in arrests locally is happening throughout the Milwaukee suburbs.
In 2007, suburban police departments in Milwaukee, Racine, Waukesha and Ozaukee counties made 5,578 arrests for drunken driving, according to data from the Wisconsin Office of Justice Assistance. In 2012, that figure had fallen to 3,868 — a 30 percent decline.

To paint a picture of what’s happening in the suburbs, Patch reviewed drunken driving arrests for nearly 50 law enforcement agencies in all four counties, excluding the cities of Milwaukee and Racine, and the sheriff’s departments, which typically do not patrol the suburban streets.

Fewer Arrests Doesn’t Mean Fewer Drunken Drivers

State lawmakers, police and experts agree that despite the downward trend in suburban arrests, drunken driving remains a persistent problem.

Nina Emerson, director for the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School’s Resource Center on Impaired Driving, offered some of the theories behind the decline in arrests, which she stressed is a statewide phenomenon.

“Some people say they believe fewer people are driving drunk. Some people say we have made progress,” she said. “But I tend to view things with a little more skepticism. … In recent years, we haven’t had the resources for enforcement campaigns.”

On a national level, some studies suggest that impaired driving has decreased because people choose not to drive drunk. A survey by the Centers for Disease Control suggested that self-reported drunken driving “episodes” have decreased from 161 million in 2006 to 112 million in 2010.

“Three decades of education has been out there showing that drunk driving kills. That is getting to people,” said Frank Harris, state legislative affairs manager for Mothers Against Drunk Driving. “But still too many people are dying,” as Wisconsin sees around 200 OWI fatalities per year.

Another common theory for the decrease in arrests involves economic and financial issues. For instance, people drive less when their incomes are lower and gas prices are higher, which could contribute to the decline in arrests.

Are Tougher Laws the Answer?

State Rep. Jim Ott (R-Mequon) mentioned that same argument, though he expressed his hope that fewer people are driving drunk. Ott, a vocal proponent of imposing harsher OWI penalties, has written numerous pieces of legislation designed to do just that, especially for repeat offenders.

“The logic of the legislation is that if you increase penalties, you’re deterring the behavior, not having people go to jail or be subject to fines,” Ott said. “If tougher laws didn’t deter the behavior, I don’t think there would be much point in (passing them).”

Emerson called focusing on penalties for repeat offenders “shortsighted and limited,” noting that Wisconsin lacks some more basic legal provisions for enforcement. For instance, Wisconsin does not allow sobriety checkpoints, and it’s the only state in which a first OWI offense is considered a traffic violation, not a misdemeanor.

In fact, Ott has introduced legislation that would change the latter, ensuring that first offenses are charged as misdemeanors and first-time offenders are required to appear in court.

Sheriff’s Department Sees Spike in Arrests

Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke has made drunken driving a top priority for his department, with arrest numbers topping 1,000 in four of the last six years. For Clarke, a behavioral change to diminish drunken driving can be reached with “multiple interventions,” such as enforcement, education and legislation.

Clarke told Patch that at this point in the effort to decrease drunken driving, he needs “Madison to get on board” with these proposed legislative changes.

“I could put a thousand more cars out there, but we need some more help legislatively,” he said. “No other state has this carnage. They make it clear that there will be consequences. In Wisconsin, we do not send that message.”


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