You’ll see more Marion County Sheriff’s Office deputies on the roads in coming weeks thanks to grant money from the Mississippi Office of Highway Safety.
Deputies will join other agencies in participating in the annual Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over blitz, which begins Aug. 17 and runs through Sept. 4.
Sheriff Berkley Hall said the statistics are sobering when it comes to impaired driving. From October 2016 until July 2017, deputies made 129 DUI arrests involving alcohol and 156 DUI arrests involving drugs or other substances.
“There’s an old adage that for every one we get, six get away,” he said. “You take that number and multiply it by six. Your good people, when they come up to a checkpoint, they’re glad to see it. People who are drinking and have contraband in the car or are breaking the law gripe about them because they don’t want to go to jail.”
Hall said deputies have taken a large number of impaired drivers off the road and many illegal drugs.
“These checkpoints are effective,” he said. “As opposed to driving along and looking for a vehicle driven by someone who appears to be impaired, you’re checking multiple vehicles, with multiple officers in one place. There is a safety factor for the officers and the occupants.”
Hall said the enforcement takes place on state highways and county roads.
“We get out on the back roads to keep people safe,” he said. “Nobody really fusses about a DUI until somebody they love in their family is hurt or killed. When something happens, you’re not doing enough.”
The MCSO receives grants that help fund two full-time DUI officers in the county, according to Hall.
“We also get several thousand dollars in grant money for other officers for call back, to come back in and work,” he said. “It’s a big help. Not only do these grants help me have more deputy presence in the county, it allows my guys that are on their days off to come out and make extra money. We’re blessed to have those grants.”
However, it isn’t just holiday periods that law enforcement is out working on traffic issues.
“We are at it year-round,” Hall said. “We’re going to continue to do it.”
Hall also said that with school back in session officers were watching those areas closely as well.
“We alternate school zones and work with the Mississippi Highway Patrol on that,” he said. “The MHP troopers are allowed to run radar, but we’ve all been in law enforcement long enough to know, and a lot of us are trained visually and can determine speed. We can sit in a 30 mph zone and tell when you’re going 50. We’re going to stop you and give you a ticket for careless or reckless driving.”
Hall said many people don’t know the law regarding DUI and shared information about it.
“DUI isn’t just for alcohol,” he said. “It is driving under the influence or intoxicating liquor or any other substance that has impaired the person’s ability to operate a motor vehicle.”
Hall said many motorists say they “have a prescription for this.”
“If it warns you not to operate heavy machinery or that it may cause drowsiness, it doesn’t matter that you have a prescription or not.”
DUI basics
• Alcohol is measured by Breath Alcohol Content (BAC)
• Legal limit for a person who is above the legal age to purchase alcoholic beverages (21) is .08.
• Legal limit for person below the legal age is .02.
• Legal limit for someone operating a commercial vehicle is .04.
First offense DUI
• License suspended for 120 days, fine from $25 to $1,000, and up to 48 hours in jail.
Second offense DUI
• License suspended for one year, fine from $600 to $1,500 and five days to six months in jail.
Third offense DUI- Felony
• License is suspended for the duration of the sentence, fine from $2,000 to $5,000, one to five years in prison and interlock restricted license for three years.
Any offense after a felony is considered a fourth and subsequent, no matter what time period in which it is received. License suspension for the duration of sentence, fine from $3,000 to $10,000, two to 10 years in prison and interlock restricted license for 10 years.
Minors receiving DUIs
• First offense – license suspended for 120 days
• Second offense – license suspended for one year.
• Third offense, if occurring within five years, license is suspended for two years or until the person reaches 21, whichever is longer.
• If you get a DUI before you are the legal age to obtain a license, you shall not be eligible to receive a license until age 18.
If you refuse tests being performed on you:
• On a DUI first offense: License suspended 30 days after the incident for 90 days.
• On a DUI second offense or third offense, license is suspended 30 days after the date of the incident for one year.
If you have a commercial license:
• Legal limit is .04 instead of .08, whether you are driving a commercial vehicle or a regular vehicle.
• License is automatically suspended for one year no matter which number of offense. Then at the end of the year, you must reapply to the Department of Public Safety to see if they will give you another chance at your CDL license.
