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PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION
San Diego,
California experiences numerous fatal and felony motor vehicle crashes
each year, a large proportion of which involve motorists with a suspended
or revoked driver's license, or in some cases, no license at all. San
Diego Police Department data for 1995 indicated that 39 percent of the
166 total fatal and felony traffic crashes reported involved suspended
or unlicensed drivers. Forty-three percent of these cases were repeat
offenders.
To compound
this problem, licensed offenders often faced no consequences for their
offenses, due to insufficient training for field officers. In some cases,
suspended/unlicensed drivers were simply overlooked, or, because the
court system was overburdened, license offense cases were frequently
plea-bargained or even dismissed. The City Attorney's office was overwhelmed
with misdemeanor cases and license offenders were a low priority.
GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
In an effort to improve
traffic safety throughout the city, the San Diego Police Department
initiated the San Diego Traffic Offenders Program (STOP) Team Impound
project in 1997. Project goals and objectives included:
- Reducing total fatal collisions
by 10 percent from 65 in 1995 to 59 in 1997; and by an additional
10 percent to 53 in 1998
- Reducing hit-and-run fatal
and injury collisions by 10 percent from 896 in 1995, to 806 in 1997,
and by an additional 20 percent to 645 in 1998
- Increasing the prosecution
rate for suspended/revoked offenders from 89 percent in 1995 to 93
percent in 1997, and 97 percent in 1998
- Increasing the misdemeanor
conviction rate from 74 percent to 80 percent in 1997, and 85 percent
in 1998
- Increasing the number
of vehicles impounded from unlicensed/suspended/revoked offenders
- Collecting data on suspended/revoked
license offenders with a prior DUI conviction
- Creating a vertical prosecution
unit within the City Attorney's office to facilitate the prosecution
of unlicensed or suspended licensed drivers
STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES
The STOP
Team conducted 32 special enforcement details in 1997 and 1998 to apprehend
drivers whose licenses had been suspended for impaired driving offenses.
Team members also reviewed the San Diego Municipal Court calendar for
licensed and DUI offenders scheduled to appear in court. Plain clothes
officers monitored the offenders, and followed them out of the courthouse.
If the offender was caught driving, he/she was arrested and their vehicle
was impounded.
The STOP Team
also initiated "Drivers License Check Points," modeled after the court-approved
DUI checkpoint program. These operations were conducted in various parts
of the city, where vehicles were randomly stopped and drivers were screened
for valid driver's license, registration and insurance. If the driver
was unable to produce these documents, they were sent to a secondary
location for further evaluation and enforcement.
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