Apr 26, 2006 By Josh Krysak 2 min read

State police troopers arrested a record number of drunken drivers in 2005, with more than 13,000 people charged with driving under the influence of alcohol. State police in Uniontown reported the second-highest station total for driving under the influence (DUI) arrests across the state, with 479 DUIs issued by the barracks in 2005. Uniontown is one of 89 state police stations across the state.

“We are working harder than ever to take intoxicated drivers off the roads and make Pennsylvania’s highways safe for all travelers,” police Commissioner Jeffrey B. Miller said. “We are using education, training and continued high levels of enforcement to get the job done.”

A total of 13,406 DUI arrests were made statewide, up from 13,323 arrests in 2004, police said.

Uniontown also was in the top five stations across the state in DUI crashes in 2005, reporting 124; a number state police spokesman Jack Lewis said he hopes continued enforcement will drive down.

“Our primary goal would be to reduce the number of DUI crashes,” Lewis said. “As our arrests have been going up, so too have DUI-related crashes.”

Lewis said one way to cut crash numbers is a program called Problem Specific Policing (PSP.) Lewis said the program tracks crimes and crashes through computer programs and allows officers to move resources to trouble areas accordingly.

“Our goal isn’t really to arrest more people but reduce the crashes,” Lewis said.

But arrests are on the rise because of other programs such as Operation Nighthawk, a training and enforcement program that combines the efforts of municipal police and state troopers on roving nighttime patrols, police said.

The program was instituted in 2002 and three sessions are planned across the state for this year. Police also attributed the rise in DUI arrests to the Drug Recognition Experts (DRE) program. According to Lewis, DRE is a tool for officers to help identify drunk drivers.

Police said 12 troopers and one municipal officer have been certified as drug recognition experts.

Police plan to continue to promote anti-DUI educational programs to help reduce the number of intoxicated drivers.

In the 2005 report, one local trooper from Uniontown, John P. Weaver, was named one of the department’s top members in DUI arrests for the year, netting 53 drunken drivers on area roadways, police said.