DA applauds DUI convictions

Shasta County registered the second-highest conviction rate for DUI arrests in California from 2006 to 2007, District Attorney Gerald Benito announced via press release on Tuesday, April 14.

"I believe it's because officers are doing a better job screening DUI cases," Benito said.

With better educated officers, they are only making arrests when there is good evidence to support the arrest, and the officers are documenting all evidence relevant to the situation, Benito said.

"They can't remember a small detail from an arrest six months ago unless it's documented," Benito said, adding that it makes a "huge difference" when trying to make a conviction in a DUI case.

Benito also said that the district attorney's office note what problems jurors have in prosecuting DUI cases. After finding out what jurors need to prosecute, Benito said he can pass that information on to officers to be on the lookout for the most relevant information at the time of an arrest.

"Put all that together and it makes for a high success rate," Benito said. "This to me is a testament to the quality of work officers are doing."

Shasta County also experienced a 40-percent increase in DUI arrests from 2006 to 2007, the highest in the state. In terms of raw numbers, there were 891 DUI arrests in 2005 compared to 1,796 arrests in 2007. For the increase in arrests, Benito credited a grant to the Redding Police Department that funded two officers who patrolled exclusively for drunk drivers.

Benito also credited the Avoid the Five campaign, the local arm of the California Avoid program, which is funded by the Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.