Elmhurst Among Top Municipalities in the State for DUI Arrests, According to AAIM

The Elmhurst Police Department is earning some praise from the Alliance Against Intoxicated Motorists.

The department is ranked fourth in the state for arrest rate per officer for DUI, according to an annual survey by AAIM. Elmhurst's Top Cop is Officer Matthew McCollum, who arrested 106 people for drunk driving in 2011, placing him 17th in the state.

Since 1990, AAIM has conducted the survey of Illinois police departments to determine how many drunk driving arrests they make. AAIM not only praises these departments and individual officers, but encourages them to keep up the fight against drunk driving.

Through a grant from the Illinois Department of Transportation, nearly 700 police agencies were surveyed, with 76 percent responding. Elmhurst is ranked sixth for total DUI arrests in 2011 with 367, behind Rockford (686), Naperville (622), Springfield (553), Rock Island (465) and Decatur (448).

Chicago, because of its size, is in its own category. Chicago police made 17.8 percent fewer arrests in 2011 (3,037) than in 2010 (3,695), according to the survey.

Elmhurst is ranked fourth in arrest rate, with 5.48 arrests per officer, behind Itasca (11.48), Carol Stream (5.63) and Rock Island (5.6). In 2011, Elmhurst had 67 sworn officers.

DUI arrests in Elmhurst in 2011 increased 15.4 percent from the 318 arrests in 2010.

“More DUI arrests in a municipality or county do not necessarily mean there are more drunk drivers in these locations than in other Illinois communities,” AAIM Executive Director Charlene Chapman said in a prepared statement. “It does indicate a more active enforcement effort targeting DUI by those police departments compared to other departments.”

In a familiar pattern, the regions of the state with the strongest DUI enforcement are Cook County, which accounts for eight of the state’s top departments, and DuPage County, which accounts for six departments.

“…  Traffic safety advocates believe that drunk drivers who are arrested are the fortunate ones. In our impaired driving prevention programs, we always remind people that if they are driving drunk they are lucky if it is a cop that stops them, rather than a tree, another car or a small child," AAIM Board Vice-President and crash survivor Marti Belluschi said in a statement.

Of the Illinois police departments who responded to AAIM's survey, the Top 25 in terms of arrests for DUI in 2011 are:

Rank: 2011
DUI Arrests