Colorado Department of Transportation officials can’t say for sure whether their notably aggressive DUI enforcement campaigns are having appreciable effects out on state streets and highways.
They can say this with certainty, though: The funding well for the so-called and recurring Heat is On initiatives that span the state has dramatically dried up. And that has had implications for DUI arrest-and-conviction numbers.
Consider this, as one state media publication notes in spotlighting Colorado’s 2014 multiple DUI enforcement periods and their admittedly disappointing results: The $834,000 funding provided by CDOT to police agencies spanning the state during 2018 dwindled dramatically – almost unbelievably – to $1,645 last year.
Readers, you noted that correctly. Many Colorado mortgage holders shell out more each month on a single home payment than did state officials on the Heat is On program all of last year.
That paltry contribution to police coffers understandably dampened the program’s results. One CCOT official cites a “boots on the ground issue” as being the major factor yielding a disappointing outcome.
Simply put: There were far fewer boots hitting the asphalt last year than during 2017, which unsurprisingly yielded far fewer DUI arrests during the campaign’s multiple roll outs during 2018.
Thousands fewer, in fact. The “basically evaporated” funding source cited by the above CDOT principal that was available to law enforcers in towns and cities across the state wrought a wholly predictable result.
That hardly means, though, that police officers and state troopers have adopted a less aggressive on-the-road approach toward stopping alleged drunk drivers and seeking criminal convictions for drinking-related offenses.
That remains a constant on Colorado roadways, regardless of funding or any other factor. Despite fewer enforcement dollars available last year, law enforcers still arrested nearly 8,000 state drivers for DUI pursuant to high-visibility arrest/convict efforts.
It is conjecture at this early point to venture even a reasoned guess as to how the 2019 Heat campaign will feature or play out.
What is certain, though, is that legions of Colorado drivers find themselves in legal hot water each year after being stopped for a behind-the-wheel drinking infraction. When that occurs, they can turn to a proven and aggressive Denver criminal defense law firm for diligent DUI representation that seeks to fully promote their legal rights and minimize the downsides attached to an arrest.