BUFFALO, N.Y. — We hear about DWI arrests in Erie County almost daily from law enforcement agencies, which got us thinking about whether more people are being arrested or if arrest numbers are going down.
While arrests have dropped drastically in the past, now they're holding steady.
"The numbers are pretty stable now," says John Sullivan. "Historically, the numbers have been going down, which is the good news. People really are driving drunk less."
Sullivan is the Erie County Stop DWI director. It is the county office that collects the fines paid by convicted drunk drivers. Sullivan says there are roughly 2,400 DWI arrests in Erie County each year for all substances, not just alcohol.
Last year, officers made 2398 arrests. That’s ten fewer arrests than the year before.
"It's not just a fine any longer," Sullivan said. "It affects your ability to travel to Canada and other countries. Your license can be put in jeopardy, and it's a process of many, many months of intrusion in your personal life."
This year through February 11, there have been 235 arrests for DWI in Erie County. That's compared to 251 for the same time last year.
"The last three years have been very stable, but the big drop occurred in 2015 where we went from about 3,000 arrests down to about 2,400, which is where we are today," said Sullivan.
Then, in 2017, there was another 10 percent drop, which matches up with the arrival of ridesharing. These numbers are drastically lower than the 6,000 people arrested for DWI in Erie County every year in the late 80s and early 90s.
"The fatalities are way down from fifty or sixty a year to last year there was less than ten, so that's progress," Sullivan said. "Not for the ten families that were involved in the ten crashes we had last year, the problem has never been worse, but there has been progress being made."
Stop DWI also provides education materials for parents, educators, and victims of DWI crashes.