Bryan Stewart

Richmond County Daily Journal

The Richmond County Sheriff’s Office made 115 drunk driving arrests in 2009, up from 107 the year before.

Sheriff Dale Furr said the benefits of arresting drunk drivers doesn’t stop with simply their apprehension.

“It doesn’t only reflect how many people we took off the road that day,” Furr said. “With these arrests, it shows the lives saved and casualties it kept from happening. We really had a good year overall/”

Of those 115 people arrested for DWI, 24 refused to take the blood alcohol test.

During 2009, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) unit made 121 drug-related arrests, of which 104 were misdemeanor drug arrests and 17 were felony drug arrests.

According to Furr, 150 grams of marijuana was seized through misdemeanor arrests. That compared to the 2,208 grams of marijuana seized for felony charges.

A total of $1, 509 in cash was seized.

The sheriff’s office issued 838 speeding citations last year. Those cited for driving with licenses revoked totaled 352 and 269 were cited for no operator’s license. That is compared to 470 and 395 respectively.

“In 2008, we had six men on the unit,” said Lt. Mike Burns. “In 2009, we only had four and that’ll make your numbers go down.”

They also charged drivers with 148 insurance violations, 302 tag violations, 250 inspection violations and 29 seat belt violations.

Overall, the sheriff’s office’s Governor’s Highway Safety Unit had 3,237 charges in 2009. That includes 192 criminal charges.

In 2009, the unit had 4,352 charges, according to Burns.

Two vehicles were seized and impounded and 10 people were charged with firearm-related infractions.

Furr added that the unit arrested 66 fugitives wanted for prior charges and two stolen vehicles recovered.

The ICE unit with the sheriff’s office participated in 28 multi-agency checkpoints throughout the year and five of its own.

Also, the unit held 135 safety checkpoints and one seatbelt checkpoint.

Staff writer Bryan Stewart can be reached at 997-3111 ext. 15 or by e-mail at bstewart@yourdailyjournal.com.