LPSO awarded for DWI stance

The Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office has been recognized for by the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission for its exceptional DWI enforcement efforts.

“It is no secret that DWI enforcement remains a huge priority for our agency,” Lafourche Parish Sheriff Craig Webre said. “With our arrest numbers, our full-time adoption of the ‘no refusal’ policy, and the checkpoints and saturated DWI patrols conducted year-round, we believe we are sending a clear message to the public that if you drive drunk, we will find you and you will be arrested.”

This marks the fifth consecutive year that the department has been recognized for its DWI efforts. The department was acknowledged at the commission’s annual awards ceremony held last week in Baton Rouge.

Last year, the department made 407 DWI arrests, the most arrests made by a sheriff’s office in a parish with 50,000 to 99,000 residents. The number of arrests marked a 40 percent increase in the department’s DWI arrest rate from 2010.

LPSO Deputy Joseph Anderson was recognized by the commission for his efforts to remove impaired drivers from the parish’s roadways. He also received Sheriff’s Office Blue Max Award for making the most DWI arrests in one year. In 2012, Anderson made 55 DWI arrests.

“Our deputies understand that removing an impaired driver from the roadway could end up saving lives,” Webre said. “This is a task that Deputy Anderson meets head on, and the results speak for themselves. I am very proud of his efforts and the efforts of all our patrol deputies.”

During the last six years, traffic fatalities in Louisiana have declined since peaking in 2007. That year, there were 933 traffic fatalities, and, even though numbers continue to drop, fatality numbers spiked again in 2011 when 676 people lost their lives in traffic accidents.

“Alcohol and failure to wear seat belts are two of the main factors in fatal crashes,” Lt. Col. John LeBlanc, director of the state Highway Safety Commission, said. “Our commission partners with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, State Police and local law enforcement agencies to coordinate intensive programs designed to save lives by removing drunk drivers from our roads and getting all motorists to buckle up.”

Edmonson also touted a “no-nonsense approach” to keeping impaired drivers off the roads.

“As impaired driving is an on-going, yet preventable, public safety problem that leads to thousands of fatalities and injuries each year across the state, I believe it is important that we recognize those who have made significant efforts to curb those numbers,” Col. Edmonson said. “This cannot be achieved without the partnership among law enforcement, district attorneys and judges who continue to take a no-nonsense approach to sending a clear message to DWI offenders.”

In Louisiana, more than 30,000 DWI arrests were reported in 2011, and impaired driving is also a problem nationally. Of the 676 people killed in Louisiana traffic accidents in 2011, the latest available numbers, 41 percent of them were killed in alcohol-related accidents. Lafourche Parish had 16 traffic fatalities that year, and seven of them were alcohol-related.