Cops arrest 11 drunk drivers over weekend

| 03/04/2017 | 26 Comments

(CNS): The RCIPS traffic unit was kept busy over the weekend arresting eleven people who were found to be drunk behind the wheel. The police said that the number of people caught drinking and driving was about twice the usual weekend average but that this was down to more proactive policing rather than a surge of drunks on the road. However, the RCIPS reminded people of the dangers of driving while drunk.

Most of these DUIs were detected by officers on patrol but two people were arrested after police responded to road crashes.

“Initially it appears that this increase is more a result of more strategic road enforcement rather than a huge increase in drunk driving,” said Sergeant Lenford Butler. “However, this was a lot of arrests for one weekend, and we want to remind the public of just how dangerous drunk driving is. A car can quickly become a lethal weapon with the addition of alcohol.”

The police made another 19 arrests over the weekend for a range of other offences.

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Comments (26)

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  1. ThIs WrItInG Is VeRy IrRiTaTiNg says:

    Good work! I look forward to seeing the results of the renewed interest in enforcing the laws on the roads. Start with doling out tickets by the dozen for running red lights and stop signs, failure to use indicators and improper lane changes on roundabouts. These are the easy ones and will probably lead to a pile of other tickets like expired licence coupons, expired driver’s licenses and no insurance. There is no reason there should not be hundreds of these types of tickets issued daily even if there are only a small number of officers dedicated to the traffic department. If I need to take off my shoes to count the number of these infractions that I see in the short time I am on the roads each day someone doing it for 8 hours a day should easily be able to issue 100 tickets a day. Have them pre-printed for the various offences so the only thing that needs to be filled in is the date, time, driver’s name and licence plate number. Unfortunately the traffic cops will likely have to start with other police vehicles as many don’t seem to understand or observe the basic rules of the road. To get the officers to take it seriously pay them 10% of the fines collected in addition to their regular pay. If they write 100 tickets a day their percentage would be a nice perk.

    • Diogenes says:

      Incentivising the officers is a problem as it is an incentive to ticket unfairly. Allowing RCIPS to retain the ticket revenue rather than have it go to the central treasury however might change management attitudes toward s traffic enforcement and for that matter enforcing warrants for non payment. And deal with RCIPS complaints that other areas of their activities, such as the marine unit, are not adequately funded. As it is all fresh revenue since the tickets were not being raised in the first place there is also no loss to CIGs income. Win win – the only people who lose are those breaking the traffic laws. I dont see why its acceptable to charge smokers for unacceptable social behaviour and let people flagrantly break traffic laws.

      • ThIs WrItInG Is VeRy IrRiTaTiNg says:

        I agree with letting the RCIPS keep the ticket revenue to use for other law enforcement initiatives. There are far to many laws here that are not enforced.

        I think the traffic cops would be so busy writing tickets for obvious infractions by bad drivers that they would not have time to give sensible drivers tickets unfairly for made up infractions.

  2. Anonymous says:

    If you drink and drive and nobody gets hurt, Its a win! Dont ticket the winners!

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    • Anonymous says:

      ZERO tolerance all you drunks out there!!! Do you realise how this affects the lives of those left behind when you mow down their loved ones??………..no, I guess not until it’s YOUR loved one!!

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      • Diogenes says:

        Perhaps we could start off by putting those who do hurt or kill people in jail for serious amounts of time – even if they are civil servants.

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  3. Anonymous says:

    yes, but ultimately. Who is to blame. The people that do not want to take cabs due to the highcost of cabs. Or the government who will not enforce meters in the taxi’s? If people did not get ripped off calling for cabs. Because lets face it. The fairs are ridiculous.
    Then there would be no excuse for drinking and driving.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Seriously?

      There is no excuse for drinking and driving; I speak from experience, had a DUI before.

      You know what? I was wrong then, I admitted it and took responsibility for it.

      If you know that you do not have a designated driver (“DD”) to take you to and from home when you want to go out partying, then stay home and drink there. It is not worth the risk; whilst I didn’t harm anyone else I acknowledged then as I do so now that I could have easily killed or harmed another person for MY selfishness and stupidity.

      Are cab fairs high in Cayman? Yes, but life is price-less. You cannot put a price on a human being.

      Please, for the sake of all good and wonderful, stay home and drink if you don’t have a DD.

      #SayNOtoDrinkDriving

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    • Anonymous says:

      Also proper public transport in the wee hours.

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      • Anonymous says:

        Nightclubs should bear some responsibility for the safe transit home of their patrons, particularly if their business model (night after night, week after week) is to release dozens of dangerously drunk people into their parking lots at 4am.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Are you kidding me?!? This has nothing to do with any taxi prices. There is NEVER an excuse for Drinking and Driving! You deserve, and must accept, blame for choosing to drive to your drinking spot, intending ahead of time to drink alcohol, and then willfully planning to risk everyone’s life on the road as you careen home inebriated, hoping not to get caught or Lord-forbid – loose your driver’s license! It may take you actually crashing, or running over something/someone (ruining your life, disgracing your family/your so-called friends, and ruining another family’s lives) to figure that out. You can then recount in court, to the agrieved, how you can be seen on CCTV arriving with means to drive, own, and insure a car, with your new sunglasses, outfit, designer label trimmings, and spending $100 at the bar getting drunk, yet couldn’t afford, or be bothered to arrange responsible transport (at any price), on some misplaced financial principle – and that you had already decided to do this before you departed home earlier in the day. See what leniency the judge has for your “cab-fare” woes at that sentencing and enjoy the life YOU chose.

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      • Diogenes says:

        Except in Cayman if you do have an accident you simply need to flee the scene, cover up and conceal your involvement and not get apprehended until after the alcohol is out of your system, then claim you were under the influence of medication and don’t recall, or it was your mystery friend driving, and you get off with a slap on the wrist or scot free. Your hypothetical only works if the deterrent is real.

  4. Anonymous says:

    When there is no police around to enforce the law this is what happens……….the result of years and years of no active policing and slaps on the wrist. A whole generation has grown up to believe that laws are a joke and that they do not need to respect any authorities.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Don’t blame RCIPS for everything. They can’t be everywhere! Monitoring ‘drunks’ is a full time job. They didn’t pour it down the necks of these idiots. The ultimate responsibility is with the selfish irresponsible people that drink and drive!

  5. Anonymous says:

    So police is admitting that their lack of “pro-active” policing has resulted into hundreds of people blatantly disobeying the law on a regular basis because they feel quite secure in knowing that they likely won’t be caught?

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  6. Soiled Son says:

    Perhaps Expats should be, upon conviction, jailed for 3 months, their jobs terminated, and then sent packing. Locals, upon conviction, should spend 6 months in jail. That should provide some incentive not to drink and drive. But who are we kidding – too many politicians would have to spend too much time at the farm…

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    • Anonymous says:

      Guernsey does this, except locals and expats are charged alike and employers will fire you for the arrest.

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    • Anonymous says:

      I am not really sure why there should be a distinction between expats and locals. All should be treated the same. It should be up to the employer if the job is terminated. We need to stop this constant expact/local division.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Alcohol doesn’t discriminate, so neither should our laws.

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  7. Anonymous says:

    To start to make a dent in the hundreds of unpunished DUI drivers, reckless speeders, and near-miss road vigilantes, the RCIPS needs to show up ready to work, get out there, and arrest people. Start pulling over all of the probable cause cars – those with tinted everything, no plates, or no headlights on after dark. They’d soon find that 11 over a weekend is nothing.

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    • Anonymous says:

      and there needs to be a system put in place which actually results in the collection of all outstanding tickets and not have it accumulate into 800 tickets not been collected on….how someone who has an unpaid ticket can get anything done at the licensing dept is worrisome….

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  8. Anonymous says:

    If they sat outside Royal Palms on a Sunday evening they could probably get 100 arrests in one hit….

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