DWI czar: Get tough on DWI offenders

By Bill Donovan
Staff Writer

GALLUP — If McKinley County really wants to cut down on the number of DWI deaths locally, the county is going to have to come up with some way to provide consequences for those who are arrested for drunken driving.

That was the suggestion given Tuesday to members of the McKinley County Commission by Rachel O'Connor, the state's DWI czar.

O'Connor talked to members of the commission for almost 45 minutes, explaining some of the programs that Gov. Bill Richardson had set up to alleviate the state's alcohol problems and DWI.

Much of the discussion after her presentation had to do with her statements about providing consequences for those who are caught drinking and driving.

She pointed out that arresting someone for drunken driving is enough in about 50 percent of the cases to keep people from doing it again.

But for the other 50 percent, tougher measures must be done.

"It's better for a person who is arrested the first time to have consequences than have it occur when he gets his sixth arrest," she said.

The problem that state officials see happening in McKinley County is that people who get arrested for the fifth or sixth time for DWI don't usually face more than a few days in jail.

She said that the state is looking at what San Juan County does as a model for what McKinley County may want to follow.

In San Juan County, the magistrate judges there have a policy of giving all first-time offenders 28 days in jail, which has been shown to sharply reduce the number of repeat cases in that area.

She pointed out that the state cannot mandate that counties do this, but she said county officials should consider what San Juan is doing in determining what kind of programs they want to implement in the future.

Commission Chairman Billy Moore pointed out that San Juan is in a different situation than McKinley County is it has more funds and more resources to use for this than McKinley County does.

In recent months, commissioners have been complaining about the number of county prisoners that are being kept in the county jail because of the cost. To put people in jail for 28 days on a first offense would only strain the county budget more.

But there is another factor to consider as well, Commissioner Member Ernest Becenti said, and that's the judges in this area.

He said the commission has tried repeatedly to get the magistrate judges to sit down and discuss their sentencing procedures but the judges have refused to do so.

Other factors that the county may want to consider in their DWI discussions in this area is the significant increase in the number of DWI arrests by McKinley County Sheriff deputies, and the decline in arrests by city police officers.

She also pointed out that to deal with alcohol abuse programs in McKinley County, the state has come to the realization that an equal amount of funding has to be supplied to the Navajo Nation for alcohol abuse programs that the tribe runs in the county.