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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2.B. DWI Enforcement Follow-up Discussion 4ROSEN4OUNTEXECUTIVE SUMMARY CITY COUNCIL City Council Work Session: AGENDA ITEM: DWI Enforcement Follow-up Discussion AGENDA SECTION: Discussion PREPARED BY: Eric T. Werner, Chief of Police AGENDA NO. 2 ATTACHMENTS: Executive Summary— March 14, 2012 City Council Work Session Agenda 2.A. Document, Maps of APPROVED BY: DWI and Traffic Stops from January— October 2012. ObJ RECOMMENDED ACTION: Discussion ISSUE Representatives from several licensed liquor establishments and members of the business community attended the Council Work Session on March 14,2012 and expressed concern of the aggressive and targeted DWI enforcement and traffic stops. The Police Department presented information of an extensive review of traffic stops and DWI enforcement. The Police Department suggested refinements to DWI enforcement and the making of traffic stops. The City Council, staff and bar owners decided to meet again in approximately six months to discuss information about the results of the refinements made by the Police Department. BACKGROUND Review of March 2012 Work Session Statistical Analysis At the March 14,2012 Council Work Session,Police Chief Gary Kalstabakken provided the findings of an extensive review of traffic stops from December 2011 through February 2012. The review was conducted to address the concerns expressed at the February 14,2012 Council Work Session. A summary of the concerns included officers fabricating reasons for traffic stops, traffic stops made for trivial offenses, drivers followed and/or stopped solely for being observed leaving the parking lot of a bar, and officers routinely parking in bar or adjacent parking lots intimidating establishments'patrons. In summary, the review concluded no indication of fabrication of the reason for traffic stops;traffic stops were for both moving and equipment violations; traffics stops resulted in DWI arrests; and officers were consistently courteous and professional during the traffic stops. The review also found DWI arrests in 2007 and 2011 resulted in conviction rates higher than the statewide and countywide conviction rates. Additionally,Rosemount Police officers are professionally trained in the detection of impaired drivers. Details of the review can be found in the attached City Council Executive Summary for the March 14 Work Session. Since the Work Session, the police refined patrol techniques by 1) encouraging officers to continue patrols and make traffic stops away from the downtown area;and 2) encouraging officers to focus more on moving violations and on equipment violations that have a more obvious safety element. A copy of the March 14th City Council Work Session executive summary is attached hereto. Statistical Analysis Update A review of traffic stops from 9:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m. and all DWI arrests from January through October of 2012 showed the following: ➢ 107 DWI arrests made. 2012 arrests are anticipated to be higher than the 106 made for 2011 and 109 made for 2010,while lower than the five and ten year annual average of 139 arrests. ➢ The average blood alcohol content (BAC) of the drivers arrested is .149 for 94 arrests. Minnesota state statute legal limit for intoxication is .08 BAC. There were 9 test refusals, 2 controlled substance tests and 2 test results pending analysis. ➢ The current conviction rate in 2012 is 100% for 86 of the settled DUI cases. ➢ 1876 traffic stops were conducted. 893 traffic citations were issued. o 370 citations were issued for criminal offenses (e.g.,DUI,Driving after Revocation, Cancellation or Suspension; curfew, or misdemeanor crimes). o 240 citations were issued for speeding and moving violations (e.g.,lane usage, stop sign or semaphore violations, or unsafe passing). o 258 citations were issued for other non-moving violations (e.g., expired registration,no- proof of insurance, driver license classification or driving permit type offenses). o 25 citations were issued for equipment violations. The types of citations written provide a good representative sample of the reason for traffics stops and the offenses being observed. There is a focus on the serious offenses, speeding and moving violations and other non-moving violations. Equipment violations are being enforced at a lower quantity. The locations of the DWI arrests and traffic stops are plotted on two maps attached hereto. The stop and arrests locations show traffic stops and arrest locations dispersed throughout the city. Liquor Establishment Representative Interviews Police Chief Eric Werner met with licensed liquor establishment representatives that expressed concerns at previous Work Sessions during the months of September through October 2012. The meetings provided the opportunity to obtain feedback since the March Council Work Session. The overall feedback showed establishment representatives were pleased with current police traffic enforcement procedures and were not hearing negative feedback from customers. Several of the vendors expressed their support for the police procedures currently and in the past. Additionally,most of the vendors expressed interest in finding ways the business owners could communicate or work more closely with the police and/or city in the future. Conclusion After the March 2012 Council Work Session the Police Department made refinements to DWI enforcement to encourage officers to make traffic stops away from the downtown bar area, focus more on moving violations, and focus equipment violations with a more obvious safety element. The police department's review indicates the refinements have occurred. More importantly licensed liquor establishment representatives have noticed the refinements and expressed support for the current police DWI detection practices. 2 DWI is a public safety concern and a criminal offense. The State of Minnesota has invested tremendous amounts of resources in recent years to reduce impaired driving offenses and traffic crash related injuries or deaths through its Toward Zero Death campaign. Dakota County is ranked 5 of the top 13 deadliest counties based on DWI arrests and alcohol related serious injuries in the last three year period. Rosemount officers are professionally trained in DWI detection. The Police department will continue enforcement efforts to help reduce the safety effects of impaired drivers. 3 4 ROSEMOUNT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY CITY COUNCIL ©Opy City Council Work Session: March 14, 2012 AGENDA ITEM: DWI Enforcement AGENDA SECTION: PREPARED BY: Gary D. Kalstabakken, Chief of Police AGENDA NO. ATTACHMENTS: None APPROVED BY: RECOMMENDED ACTION: Discussion ISSUE Representatives of four licensed liquor establishments attended the Council Work Session on February 14, 2012. They expressed concern that aggressive and targeted DWI enforcement was resulting in a loss of business to their establishments. More specific complaints included: • Officers were fabricating reasons for conducting traffic stops, e.g. weaving or wide turn. • Officers were making traffic stops for trivial driving offenses, e.g. tail or brake light out,license plate light out, and objects hanging from the rear-view mirror. • Drivers are followed and/or stopped solely because the driver was observed leaving the parking lot of one of the bars. This includes the stopping of employees of the businesses. • Officers routinely park in bar or adjacent parking lots and nearby parking lots and intimidating patrons of the establishments. A review of squad video and other data has been undertaken to address the issues raised at the meeting. FINDINGS OF REVIEW Review of Squad Video At the February 14 Council Work Session, staff offered and was directed by the Council to review squad video of traffic stops. Each squad car is equipped with video equipment. The video equipment is used for gathering evidentiary recordings for DWI and other arrests,but it also is used to observe officer conduct and performance when complaints are received. While the system can be manually activated,it is automatically activated anytime the squad's emergency lights are activated. Lieutenant Jewel Ericson reviewed the squad video of 333 traffic stops. This is a significant sampling of the stops made by officers working the night shift but it is not a review of every stop made. The stops were made during the months of December 2011 and January and February 2012. Findings of the review include: copy • There was no indication that officers fabricated reasons for stops. • Equipment violations were generally able to either be observed on the video, e.g. tail or brake light out, or acknowledged by the driver during the stop, e.g. suspended object hanging from the rear- view mirror. • Moving violations could not always be readily observed on the video. For example, speeding is not easily observed on video because the radar reading is not displayed. However, some violations could be observed. Weaving in a traffic lane could often be observed as the vehicle's tires either touched or crossed either the center or fog line. As with equipment violations,in some cases the driver admitted the driving violation when it was not observed on the video. • Field sobriety tests were conducted on 35 of the traffic stops (-10%). • DWI arrests were made in 26 of the cases when field sobriety tests were conducted. • Officers were consistently courteous and professional during the traffic stops. At the Work Session, both the American Legion and Carbone's representatives stated they would provide police staff with specific dates, times and locations of specific traffic stops to be reviewed. Details on only one specific incident were received following the meeting and that traffic stop is under review. Even without specific information being received,it is possible and even likely that the traffic stops that had been referenced at the meeting were reviewed by Lt. Ericson. General information on the traffic stops viewed is included in this table. SFST refers to Standardized Field Sobriety Testing. A Fix-it Tag requires the vehicle operator to provide proof of the noted equipment repair within 10 days. STOP TYPE TOTAL STOPS ARREST CITED FIX-IT TAG WARNED Distracted Driver 1 1 Domestic 1 1 Driving Complaint 2 2 Expired Registration 3 3 Follow Too Close 1 1 Headlight 29 (2 SFST) 3 2 24 Illegal Lane Use 46 (4 SFST) 6 1 39 Illegal U-Turn 1 1 License Plate Light 18 (3 SFST) 2 1 15 Litter 1 1 Misc.Traffic Stop 20 (1 STST) 1 19 Muffler 4(2 SFST) 1 1 2 No License Plate/Permit 2 2 Obstructed View 28 (6 SFST) 3 1 24 Seatbelt 5 (2 SFST) 4 1 Speed 73 (4 SFST) 2 22 1 48 Signal 7 (1 SFST) 2 5 Stoplight/Sign 23 (1 SFST) 1 5 17 Suspended Object 14 (1 SFST) 2 12 Suspicious Vehicle 6 1 5 Taillights/Rear Lights 38 (5 SFST) 3 1 34 Tint 10(3 SFST) 1 9 TOTALS 333(35 SFST) 27 39 2 265 2 Other Analysis ccpy As part of the review additional information was gathered. A manual tabulation of all traffic stops made during January and February was completed for the hours of 9:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m. A total of 476 traffic stops were made during those hours over the 60 day period. Further information on the stops during the daily 6 hour period includes: • 7.85 -Average number of daily traffic stops • 1.31 - Stops per hour on an average day • 6 -Median number of traffic stops per day • 22—Highest number of traffic stops (Saturday, February 4th—Traffic Safety Event) • 3.67 Stops per hour on highest stop day • 20—Second highest number of stops (Saturday,January 7th) • 1 —Lowest number of stops (Monday,January 2nd) During the Work Session, the bar representatives made comments that officers were making traffic stops on the night shift for violations that go unenforced and ignored on day shifts. While the Department does not track the details of warnings issued on traffic stops, some patrol officers on some traffic stops do put a notation in the Comment Field of the Event in the Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) for a traffic stop. The table below was created by reviewing each traffic stop that did include comments and compiling that information. While the table does not reflect the reason for the stop on all traffic stops made during November,it does show that officers working day shifts do stop motorists for a variety of reasons - including many of the same reasons for traffic stops made on the night shift. Nayem bet Traffic Stops Between 0600-1800116 Violation •. qty Speed 47 No Insurance 12 Suspended Object 9 Lane Use 7 Expired Tabs 5 Headlight Out 5 Equipment Violation 4 Current Address on Driver License 3 Taillight Out 3 Semaphore 3 No Brake Lights 3 Expired Driver License 2 Warrant 2 Drive After Revocation or Suspension 4 Inattentive Driving 2 No Seatbelt 2 No Turn Signal 2 Suspicious Vehicle 2 Ted Foss Law/Move Over for Emergency Vehicle 2 No Rear License Plate 1 3 Cancel- IPS 1 Trespassing 1 Improper Turn 1 ((©" :py No Front License Plate 1 Windows Frosted 1 Window Tint 1 Littering 1 Fail To Yield 1 Following Too Close 1 No Trailer Lights 1 Quality Control Measurements Any arrest for DWI requires a court appearance for the offender. The case is subject to review by the prosecuting attorney, the defendant and/or the defendant's attorney. The defendant always has the option of requesting a trial. In 2007 a review of the Department's DWI arrests made in 2007 was conducted internally by police staff. This review followed a significant increase in DWI arrests and was completed as a quality control measure. At the time the review was completed, 162 cases had been resolved. 138 of the 162 (85.2%) cases reviewed resulted in a conviction for a DWI offense. According to the MN Department of Public Safety— Office of Traffic Safety's 2007 MN Impaired Driving Facts, the statewide conviction rate for DWI was 82.4% and in Dakota County the average was 74.9%. Rosemount's conviction rate in 2007 exceeded both the state and county averages. According to the 2010 MN Impaired Driving Facts report (the last year for which data is available) the statewide conviction rate was 74% for DWI offenses and in Dakota County it was 64.9%. A review of Rosemount's 2011 DWI cases with dispositions at this time showed that 75 have been resolved and 62 (82.67%) resulted in convictions for a DWI offense. Although 35 cases still are pending in the criminal justice process, the conviction rate for Rosemount's most recent cases continues to show a rate substantially above the state and county averages. Charges for DWI have both a criminal and civil component. The results noted above address the criminal court disposition of cases; the civil track is pertaining to driver license actions that result from application of the Implied Consent rules. This civil action results in withdrawal of driving privileges and challenges to the actions are handled by the MN Attorney General's Office. Implied Consent Hearings determine if Probable Cause exists based on the actions of the police officer involved in the arrest to support the action taken against the offender's driving privileges. If probable cause is determined to have been present,the driver license withdrawal is upheld and enforced. Contact was made with the AG's office to obtain Rosemount's rate of upholding of Implied Consent actions. The AG's office will try to provide data prior to the Work Session. Officer Training—Impaired Driver Detection - Standardized Field Sobriety Testing In the City of Rosemount, each patrol officer completes a course on Standardized Field Sobriety Testing (SFST) within the first 12 months of employment. Usually the training is completed within the first 6 months. This is nationally recognized training on the detection of impaired drivers, sponsored and supported by NHTSA. The initial training is 16 hours, during which the course curriculum guides the officer through the traffic stop, face-to-face driver interview, SFST,report writing and court testimony. In addition, officers complete another 6 hours of training covering"Drugs That Impair Driving" and 4 hours on Occupant Protection and Usage Enforcement,i.e. seatbelts and child restraint seats. Officers complete a 4 hour refresher course on SFST and DWI updates every 5 years. 4 CEO py Officers should be alert for signs of alcohol or drug impairment at all times and especially in the night time hours when alcohol use by drivers is more common. The coordinator of the SFST course from the MN State Patrol was contacted and asked about any set procedures of interviewing drivers during traffic stops. Asking drivers "Where are you coming from?" and"How much have you had to drink?" are common practice for detecting impaired drivers. The questions are part of the process in DWI detection and are asked as part of the officer's interview with the driver when it is suspected the driver has been drinking. Suspicion of drinking or impairment may be the result of driving conduct, the odor of an alcoholic beverage, or other cues such as bloodshot/watery eyes, slurred speech,poor motor skills, etc. The detection of the odor of an alcoholic beverage or indicia of impairment is sufficient to request the Standardized Field Sobriety Tests be performed by a driver of a motor vehicle based upon established case law. CONCLUSIONS The review of the squad video and other data did not find any indication that DWI enforcement by officers of the Rosemount Police Department is being conducted in an illegal or unethical manner. Officers were found to be consistently performing their duties in a courteous and professional manner. Since the Work Session Meeting several discussions have been held within the Police Department about this topic. These discussions have included the supervisory staff and the patrol officers who work the night shift. Through these discussions refinements to DWI enforcements have been made. These refinements include: • Officers are encouraged to continue to patrol and make traffic stops away from the downtown bar area. While stationary positioning of squads to conduct speed and other traffic enforcement will not be eliminated in and near the downtown bar area, for example in the Rosemount Saw and Tool parking lot which was mentioned as a frequent site at the prior meeting, officers should also conduct stationary enforcement in areas away from the downtown bars. • Officers are encouraged to focus more on moving violations and on equipment violations that have a more obvious safety element (headlight, brake light, tail light out.) It is important to note that an equipment violation is supported by case law as a specific, articulable and justifiable reason to justify a traffic stop. DWI is a criminal offense and the Department will continue to enforce impaired driving violations. Society's tolerance of drinking and driving has lessened significantly in the last decade. It is believed that the community as a whole has an expectation that DWI will be enforced as a priority. Not every stop is expected to result in a DWI arrest; other traffic violations are also enforced as a matter of maintaining public safety. In addition,traffic enforcement is proven to be effective in reducing other criminal activity through the visibility of traffic stops and the increased probability of being stopped in a community with a Police Department active in traffic enforcement. Proactive patrolling does increase the police presence in the community. It is hoped that the refinements will help reduce the perception that certain downtown businesses are being targeted for enforcement. 5 r f I