Some New Year's Eve revelers might be tempted to drive home Thursday night after a few too many glasses of celebratory champagne.
And even though research showsDUI arrests have decreased in Peoria County, local law enforcement officials are not necessarily convinced that central Illinoisans have wised up.
"We're almost running 100 (DUI) arrests higher than we were this time last year," Capt. Dean Kennedy, Illinois State Police District 8 Commander in Metamora, said Tuesday.
According to statistics from the Alliance Against Intoxicated Motorists, a state not-for-profit organization,DUI arrests in Peoria County declined from 115 in 2007 to 101 in 2008, a decrease of 12 percent. In Woodford County, DUI arrests increased to 47 in 2008 from 37 in 2007, an increase of 27 percent. The organization listed the DUI arrests in Tazewell County only for 2005 - 106.
Kennedy said that in the last two years, District 8 has increased DUI enforcement, which may contribute to its increase in arrests.
"When you get people who are good at detecting it, there will be more arrests," he said.
District 8 will have six additional officers working DUI patrol New Year's Eve night. Pekin police are adding four officers to DUI enforcement for New Year's Eve.
Peoria police Officer Greg Metz, who consistently appears in AAIM's Top Cop list for arresting more than 100 DUI offenders a year, could not say whether there were more or fewer drunken drivers compared with previous years.
"The drunks are out there every night," Metz said Tuesday. "You just got to find them."
But Metz said there was less funding for DUI enforcement this year.
"All last year there was DUI money available," he said. "And this year, there was DUI money until about August ... because of the budget situation, all of the DUI budget went away."
The Peoria Police Department will not have increased DUI enforcement for New Year's Eve, but Peoria County will have additional officers on patrol that night.
Coleen Moore, marketing and admissions manager at Proctor Hospital's Illinois Institute of Addiction Recovery, said she has not seen any notable increases in its treatment programs.
"Individuals who get DUIs may or may not be dependent on the substance," Moore said Tuesday, but she added "the numbers continue to increase for those individuals suffering from alcoholism."
According to 10-year arrest trends compiled by the FBI, DUI arrests among women older than 18 increased almost 30 percent from 1998 to 2007.
"We might see a few more women than we used to, but it's still mostly men," Kennedy said about DUI arrests in the area.
Metz said more women have been arrested for DUI, and Moore said that, over the years, more women have sought treatment at the institute.
"When we first opened, we primarily had men coming into the program," Moore said. "Now, we sometimes have more women seeking the programs than men."
Metz also said young people seem to be the most educated about the risks of drinking and driving.
"In the last five to seven years, the biggest improvement in education has been among the high school kids because of the drivers' education program," Metz said. "The younger kids are so much more educated than the 30-year-olds."
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