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City police establish own DUI center
By THOMAS MICHALSKI
Article published on Thursday, Oct. 9, 2008 |
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![[Image]](/content_images/100908_par-03.jpg) |
| Photo by THOMAS MICHALSKI |
| Sgt. Tracey Schofield, special operations supervisor, explains the workings of the new DUI facility. |
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PINELLAS PARK – The Pinellas Park Police Department, another victim of Amendment 1 cuts, established a DUI facility after the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office started charging for what was once a free service.
The DUI center, set up in an old storage room at the police administration building, comes equipped with a closed circuit security system, an Intoxilyzer machine and other equipment. The facility is used to determine the degree of inebriation caused by alcohol or narcotics.
The new center began operation on Oct. 1 and is also being used by Kenneth City police and the Florida Highway Patrol, agencies who also are smarting from reductions in funds and the sheriff’s office new charge for services.
Sgt. Tracey Schofield, special operations supervisor, said establishing the facility cost about $12,000. It will save the city more than $52,000 annually based on an average of 400 DUI arrests each year, a figure that is expected to increase.
The Sheriff’s Office began offering DUI testing services for free to other agencies in the 1990s. The agency also provided deputies at some schools and other services. Amendment 1 changed all that when lawmakers tried to stem the tide of steadily increasing property taxes.
Sheriff Jim Coats recently announced that agencies will be charged $131 for each of the previously free DUI examinations. Police departments suddenly found themselves facing those additional expenditures along with skyrocketing gasoline and other costs.
The room that now holds the DUI facility was used for storage and once even housed temporary holding cells. Prisoners are now taken directly to the Pinellas County Jail.
Besides the equipment, the department sent officers to three-day courses to legally qualify them to operate the $8,000 Intoxilyzer machine that came free of charge from another agency. Two other officers attended a training school to learn how to maintain the equipment.
The department has 20 officers qualified to run the machine. Schofield wants to double that figure by year’s end.
The real time video system in the DUI room is monitored by communications center personnel who watch for problems between officers and drunken prisoners.
Besides regular road patrols, DUI task force operations are held almost monthly to get impaired drivers off the road. The upcoming holiday season will result in an upsurge of DUI arrests.
The police department is under the same gun to save money as are other city divisions such as fire and public works. Schofield said personnel are trying to trim the department’s $5,000 monthly power bill by turning off lights and other electrical items and parking cruisers to file reports at the police station and substations that are scattered around the city.
Schofield said officers are being asked to park their cars and walk beats when possible. Some thought may be given to purchasing smaller cruisers for administrative personnel to replace the eight-cylinder Ford Crown Victorias that are used for road patrol.
The large cruisers are needed due to equipment, such as first aid kits and computers, and rear seat cages to hold arrestees.
Some officers even patrol their beats on bicycles and golf carts.
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Article published on Thursday, Oct. 9, 2008
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