Law enforcement use statistics to search for drunk drivers

June 04, 2011

for more than a year, law enforcement has been using a program to pinpoint the most dangerous drunk driving intersections in the state. but is it working? heather mills is live at 8th and bridge with what she found out today. right now deputies are conducting a saturation patrol near one of the intersections where their data says is prone to see dwi crashes. several law enforcement agencies say they've seen a change--- but can't say if its because of this fairly new tool. law enforcement has been using this tool for more than a year.. it basically predicts the behavior of an intersection to pinpoint the most high-risk spots in new mexico for dwi related crashes. "this way they can look at the actual time frame and know they could go patrol perhaps a few hours prior to when we see the high crash or high risk." sergeant josh kingsbury with the bernalillo county sheriffs office says they do use the tool to assist with picking check point locations .. but they also rely on other things like street knowledge. "the database that they put together kind of gives you a good gauge of some of the intersections of the county where there might be a problem." in the last year dwi arrests have decreased. but kingsbury says there's a lot of factors that go into that decrease.. the tool has helped officers become more efficient and strategic... but he also says social media has helped drivers avoid checkpoints. and that's why deputies also conduction saturation patrols. "i hope we get zero, i'd like to see no drunks on the streets, but unfortunately the checkpoints where we don't get anybody are really few and far between." b-c-s-o will be setting up a checkpoint tonight in the south valley sometime in the next 45 minutes. it will run until three tomorrow morning.