Alcohol a headache for area law enforcement | Jefferson County Area | dailyunion.com - Daily Union

JEFFERSON — Officials from across the spectrum of law enforcement in Jefferson County acknowledged that alcohol continues to drive entries in their daily log books and takes away from time officers could use to handle other matters in the community.

Jefferson Police Chief Ken Pileggi, Watertown Police Department Assistant Chief Ben Olsen and Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy Jeff Parker discussed problems that alcohol causes in their jurisdictions and elsewhere.

“Alcohol consumption is truly a challenge, not only in our county, but statewide,” Pileggi said, adding his department handled more than its share of public intoxication and disorderly conduct incidents in 2021. “In many, but not all instances with disorderly conduct, alcohol is a huge contributing factor.

“We also had a high number of detox’s that we conducted in 2021,” he added. “Drunken driving is also a huge problem — especially when a car crash is involved. In some domestic violation investigations, alcohol is clearly part of the problem.”

In other categories of police-involved incidents and crimes, Pileggi said alcohol clearly has been a factor.

Alcohol causes problems on area roadways, Parker said, noting that other crimes also are being committed that have a great likelihood that the suspect and/or victim had been under the influence of alcohol.

It could be that not as many people are going out to bars in the pandemic or that law enforcement strategies are working, but Parker’s statistics indicated that in 2020 in Jefferson County, operating while intoxicated driving trends appeared to be improving.

There were 116 arrests for the offense in the county in 2020. This can be compared to 147 in 2019, 160 in 2018, 155 in 2017 and 146 in 2016.

Olsen said his department transferred 10 people to the Tellurian treatment center in Madison that it uses for detoxification in 2021 and that this is a time-consuming process.

“Detox complaints take a considerable amount of time,” Olsen said. “We have to first get the person medically cleared at the hospital before transport. The entire process can easily be four hours.”

Pileggi said his agency, like most others in the county, already are short staffed.

“This means if our officers are tied up on a detox matter, or an individual is experiencing a mental health crisis, the process is the same,” Pileggi said.

“It can encompass two entire shifts, and this means we have to back fill these shifts to insure regular service levels to our citizens ... People need to bear in mind that, if we are involved in a detoxification case, we need to garner medical clearance and then find a facility to which to transport the individual needing the detox — much like suicidal persons.”

The Jefferson County Human Services Department, he said, serves as a huge partner in the task of getting someone detoxed.

“They have great staff that help us through this process,” Pileggi said, “but, ultimately, medical clearance and transports can take one, or sometimes two, officers off of the street for hours at a time — sometimes many hours.”

He said his department “proactively patrols” Jefferson’s streets, looking to remove drunk drivers.

As in Watertown, Jefferson officers frequently conduct bar checks to show a presence of uniformed officers with the hope that this serves as a deterrent to bar patrons who might drink to excess, then drive.

“We are very proud to work with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office deputies on initiatives such as ‘Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over’ to try to curtail drunken driving, especially around the holidays,” Pileggi said.

Olsen said the Watertown Police Department tries to be proactive by holding bartender awareness courses for licensed establishments in the city, so they are aware of all laws.

“Watertown has a point system in place for chronic offenders,” he said. “Licensed establishments that accumulate too many points within a 12-month time period risk suspension or revocation of their license.”

source: https://www.dailyunion.com/news/jefferson_county_area/alcohol-a-headache-for-area-law-enforcement/article_cc06c8f7-04e5-50dc-af7b-2e24563ca2fa.html

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