SC Department of Public Safety Begins Holiday DUI Crackdown

The South Carolina Department of Public Safety is cracking down on drunken driving this holiday season by adding a new DUI enforcement team that they say will help save lives.

During Christmas and New Year's the Department of Public Safety sees an increased number of drunken drivers on the road.

“People have office parties and family parties and people don’t use good judgment and they drink eggnog and other alcoholic beverages and they just don’t think and they get in the car and drive,” said 8th Judicial District Solicitor, Jerry W. Peace.

To continue their Labor Day Sober or Slammer DUI enforcement campaign, they are hiring a DUI prosecutor for each of the states 16 judicial circuits.

In the past, state troopers have covered DUI prosecution but as a secondary duty.

Now, troopers will be able to focus more on taking drunken drivers off the road, and less on their role in the courtroom.

“You get convictions and cases move faster because defendants and their attorneys know that you have a prosecutor that has that duty and can function more efficiently,” said Peace.

Peace also said that many defendants plead innocent because they know they can delay a hearing.

The South Carolina Commission on Prosecution received a $1.2 million Federal grant from the Department of Public Safety to hire the extra staff.

“This grant will help fill that gap because DUI is such a problem in the state and we recognize that,” said Deputy Director of Highway Safety Phil Riley.

Each solicitor received about $75,000 of that money to help fill those positions.

“We need strong enforcement, if we don’t have that strong prosecution to back that up, were going to run into problems,” said Riley.

Highway patrol says DUI arrests are up 72 percent in 2010 at 14,840, since 2006. DUI deaths are also at the lowest rate since 1982 and they hope this effort will make drunken drivers think twice before getting behind the wheel.

“If you’re worried about your safety then you don’t have the concentration on other area’s of your life, people need to be safe,” said Peace.

The Department of Public Safety will also introduce the next installment in their Sober or Slammer campaign commercial which will begin airing Thursday night.

The commercial continues the story of a man stopped by a Highway Patrol trooper on suspicion of DUI and shows the effects his arrest has on his family as he heads to court.

It also helps illustrate the commitment in resources and personnel between law enforcement and prosecutors in combating impaired driving.

As always, Highway Patrol encourages anyone to call * HP or * 47 to report someone you suspect could be driving under the influence.