Farmington Police Department launches campaign encouraging citizens to call 911 and report drunk drivers

 

This article is part of a project of the local Community Health Improvement Council (CHIC). CHICs were created statewide in conjunction with the New Mexico Department of Health (NMDOH) with the goal of getting local citizens and county governments more involved in the manner in which health might be improved in each of their communities. The local CHIC is conducting an ongoing awareness campaign addressing the various areas that can potentially affect a person’s health. December has been dedicated to drunk driving.

 

Driving while intoxicated is an act that should never occur. Unfortunately, even with all the education surrounding the topic, people continue to drive impaired without concern for their fellow community members. What will it take to eliminate DWI? The sad truth is, this issue will probably never go away. DWIs are occurring every day, during all hours of the day. So what can a community do? A community that is tired of being fearful – fearful of being hit by a drunk driver while driving to work, taking the kids to school, or while out for a walk.

 

Law enforcement officers have worked diligently throughout the years to reduce the number of impaired drivers on the roadways and stop citizens from being injured or killed in alcohol related crashes. Officers, however, cannot be everywhere at once and must divide their time and efforts to a multitude of calls throughout the day. Farmington Police Department is working to address this issue by implementing the RADD Campaign. RADD, or report aggressive and drunk drivers, calls upon citizens to assist in the fight against DWI by calling 911 to report suspected drunk drivers. 

 

The RADD Campaign was launched in fall of 2014. Farmington Police Department partnered with San Juan Safe Communities Initiative to create the RADD logo and a series of public service announcement videos. The videos were distributed using various social media platforms and one is currently running on KOB News 4. Since the campaign’s inception, FPD has had an increase in the number of citizen calls and DWI arrests associated with those calls. The overall goal of the RADD Campaign is to reduce the number of injuries and deaths associated with DWI crashes. Farmington Police Department’s DWI arrests have increased from 611 in 2013 to 692 in 2014. In 2013, there were 106 alcohol related crashes in Farmington. Year to date, there has been a total of 71 alcohol related crashes; 30 of those crashes resulted in injuries and two resulted in fatalities.

 

Although the RADD Campaign will not eliminate drunk driving altogether, it can make a significant impact by removing impaired drivers from the roadways before they cause harm to others. Community members – let’s step up, be vigilant, and report!