Chattanooga Challenges

Read the story at:
http://newschannel9.com/news/local/chattanooga-police-face-major-challenges-enforcing-dui-laws

to see and understand how frustrating it is for law enforcement officers, who want to be able to do more to save lives on our roadways, but can't due to budgets. When I was the DUI Prosecutor in Chattanooga back in 2000, there was an active DUI unit in both the Chattanooga police department and the Hamilton County Sheriff's office. There were about four officers in each agency looking for impaired drivers during prime times on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.
They were so effective and our DA's office was so effective, that impaired people started looking for other ways to get home from bars that did not involve driving.  Officers were having a hard time finding impaired drivers, because the word had spread in the bars that the likelihood of getting caught and convicted was very high.
Now, things have regressed. Drinkers will not change behavior if they don't fear getting caught.  People die when impaired drivers far outweigh the number of officers on the road.