Wednesday, May. 28, 2008

Police stake out DUI culprits

A new grant cracks down on those driving with a suspended license.

By VICTOR A. PATTON
vpatton@mercedsun-star.com

If your license is suspended because of a DUI and you are still behind the wheel, it may not be long before Merced police lead you away in handcuffs.

Last week, Merced police arrested a man whose license was suspended for DUI just minutes after he allegedly drove away from the courtroom.

Jose Luis Valencia, 24, was arrested as a part of a courtroom sting operation made possible with a $201,759 grant from the state Office of Traffic Safety. Police say the sting operation was the first of its kind in Merced.

Merced police Sgt. Jay Struble said the grant, which runs through September 2009, allows police to conduct courtroom sting operations, where individuals who are seen driving away from court on a suspended license can be arrested.

The grant also allows police to stake out the homes of DUI offenders who are believed to be driving with a suspended license, in addition to increasing patrols and DUI checkpoints. The grant funds are used to pay the overtime needed for officers.

Struble said the goal of the program is to help keep drunken drivers off the road.

"The (program) is necessary to put the word out to drunk drivers that they need to comply with all the consequences as a result of their actions," he said.

Police arrested Valencia just minutes after he was ordered by a judge not to drive because his license was suspended.

Struble said a plainclothes officer followed Valencia out of the courtroom -- and then watched him get into his car and drive away from the courthouse. The officer then notified traffic officers of the vehicle, its description and the direction it was traveling, police said.

Valencia's car was stopped after he left the parking lot, police said, and he was arrested for driving on a suspended license. Valencia was previously convicted of driving under the influence in 2004 and had his driver's license suspended in 2005. Since then, he has been arrested twice for DUI, police said.

Merced police plan on conducting three more courtroom sting operations before the grant ends, Struble said.

Since January last year, police have made 786 DUI arrests in Merced, Struble said. There have been 118 accidents since then where alcohol was a contributing factor. Fortunately, none of those accidents were fatalities, he said.

Last year, CHP officers made about 92,270 DUI arrests in the state, said CHP spokesman Shane Ferriera. Of those, 951 in Merced County were arrested by the CHP for DUI (those numbers include DUI arrests through March 2008). In 2006, CHP officers made 1,049 DUI arrests in Merced County.

Valencia was booked into the John Latorraca Correctional Center for allegedly violating a court order where he remains in lieu of $50,000 bail.

Reporter Victor A. Patton can be reached at (209) 385-2431 or vpatton@mercedsun-star.com.