Crime & Safety

State's Attorney Says He's Pleased with Results of No-refusal DUI Initiative

Ninety percent took breathalyzer test; five of the six who were forced into blood tests were repeat DUI offenders.

A total of six search warrants were issued over the Labor Day weekend for arrestees who refused to take a breathalyzer as part of DuPage County's "no-refusal" DUI campaign. Police in DuPage were issued search warrants for suspected drunken drivers who refused the breath test, and each arrestee was given a mandatory blood tests to determine blood-alcohol content.

According to the DuPage State's Attorney's Office, of the six arrestees, one was a first-time suspected DUI offender. Three were three-time offenders, and two of them had three DUI arrests in 2011, alone. Three of the arrestees also had suspended or revoked licenses for a prior DUI arrest.

In one case, a warrant was issued for an arrestee who had been arrested five times for DUI. Of the five arrests, he had only one disposition of court supervision in 2001. During his arrest, he refused all field sobriety testing in addition to refusing the breathalyzer.

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“A five-time repeat DUI offender with only one guilty finding on his record is a person who clearly thinks that the DUI laws don’t apply to him,” DuPage State's Attorney Robert Berlin said. “This is someone who is a clear danger to our community.”

Throughout the no-refusal initiative, about 70 DUI arrests were made across DuPage. About 90 percent of the arrestees submitted to a breathalyzer without the issuance of a search warrant. The Illinois average is 50 percent during a non-initiative time frame.

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“When you look at the statistics of the Labor Day DUI arrests, there is no denying the positive impact our no-refusal weekend had on the community,” Berlin said. “Our office has received overwhelmingly positive feedback from the police departments throughout the county, and we will likely organize this type of initiative again in the near future in hopes of discouraging people from drinking and driving.”


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