DWI officers hit NC roads with new rides from grant

By Sarah Willets
The Robesonian

LUMBERTON, N.C. — Don’t do it.

That’s the advice the Lumberton Police Department’s DWI Enforcement officers have for anyone considering getting behind the wheel while impaired.

“If you drink, don’t drive,” said Officer Ryan Fuqua, one of two officers on the team. “If you had one drink or 10, don’t drive.”

Fuqua, along with Officer Stephen Jacobs, have made 63 DWI arrests since May with the help of a Governor’s Highway Safety Program grant. The officers recently got a new tool to crack down on impaired driving — two fully-loaded 2016 Chevrolet Tahoes.

The SUVS since October have been outfitted with everything an officer needs — radar, dashboard camera, lights and siren — as well as specially made partitions and plastic seats where offenders can safely be seated and can’t hide contraband between seat cushions.

According to Maj. Tommy Barnes, the Governor’s Highway Safety Program requires that vehicles purchased with the grant be made in America. The Police Department lately has been replacing its outdated cars with Dodge Chargers, but those are assembled in Canada.

The Tahoes counted toward the Police Department’s first year of the four-year grant, which was 100 percent funded by the National Highway Safety Administration.

This year, the department has received $103,207 from the program, and is required to contribute a 15 percent match. During the first year, the department received $228,000.

Fuqua and Stephens said their No. 1 goal is to reduce the number of DWI-related traffic fatalities. The team also recently added enforcing seat belt use to their job descriptions. Fuqua joined the force in May 2013 and Jacobs in January 2013.

The two work mostly nights, signing on in the late afternoon and ending their shifts between 1 and 4 a.m. While on the road they look for look for speeding, swerving drivers and those who ignore traffic signals.

They estimate they can spend up to two hours with each offender, pulling them over, administering sobriety tests like a Breathalyzer and processing them at the jail.

“There’s a need for it with all the establishments that sell alcohol,” Barnes said. ” … For two people to make 63 arrests, that shows you there’s a problem.”

Copyright 2015 The Robesonian