A recent article from the Sarasota Herald Tribune does not paint a good picture for Sarasota County law enforcement. In Todd Ruger’s article DUI Arrests Plunge, he quotes statistics showing that DUI arrests are down fifty percent since 2004. David Haenel, a partner in the law firm of Finebloom and Haenel, is quoted in the article as saying the drop in DUI arrests is attributed to the fact that

DUIs are somewhat complex and take a lot of time, and they don’t want to be tied up for three of four hours.

A general road patrol deputy is assigned to a particular zone and since DUI arrests are so time consuming, that deputy is unavailable to respond to 911 calls when he/she is off the streets that long.

Other financial factors have clearly contributed to the drop in DUI arrests. The first major factor throughout much of 2007 and the first half of 2008 was the high gas prices. Less people were on the road and therefore by default the number of DUI drivers decreased. Secondly, the Sarasota County Sheriffs Deputies who work in the traffic unit are forced to work 5 eight hour shifts with two days off. The other road patrol deputies are assigned 12 hour shifts with many more days off per month. In addition, the traffic unit deputies are forced to attend Florida Department of Highway and Motor Vehicles administrative hearings, motion hearings, and trials. Since the sheriff’s office has a new policy limiting overtime, these deputies are forced to “wash out” or take time off the next night or pay period to compensate them for their overtime hours. This causes a shortage of DUI traffic deputies. The Sarasota Police Department has not had a DUI squad in years and their officers have been extremely busy responding to calls and are often unavailable or unwilling to spend the necessary time to do a DUI arrest. The Florida Highway Patrol in Venice is constantly understaffed and on any given night there is one lone trooper to work Sarasota county.