On Thursday, December 9th, 2010, law enforcement officers from all over Porter County gathered to award and recognize each other's accomplishments in diminishing drunk driving across the county. The Porter County Drunk Driving Task Force, consisting of civialians and law enforcement officers, hosted the ceremony in which the top two officers from each local police department as well as the state were awarded for having the most DUI arrests. The efforts of the task force to educate and promote safe driving as well as warn potential drunk drivers about enforcement have apparently proven effective as DUI arrests have declined drastically from over 1300 two years ago to 978 this year.
"The question is are there less people doing it and being educated in the county and realizing the enforcement is out there so they're not doing it?" asked Michael Grennes, Sergeant at the Valparaiso Police Department as well as the Chairperson of the Task Force. "We hope that's what it is."
One of the things that Grennes and the rest of the drunk driving task force will do to help keep Porter County's roads safe is they will look for different sponsors where they'll pay an off-duty officer to increase patrol for DUI's on the weekends and holidays. Also, they will publicize the increased patrol so hopefully would-be drunk drivers will make sure to steer clear of the roads.
"We hope it's making a big effort," said Grennes. "Numbers-wise it's showing a reduction so you hope that's the reason why."
With the holidays arriving soon, it's reassuring to know that Porter County law enforcement officers will be stepping up the patrol in order that our roads will be safe and sound.
"It's our opportunity to recognize the officers for all the hard work they do all year long," explained Sargeant Grennes.
Click here for more photos from award winners!
Thank you to all the officers and their efforts to keep Porter County drivers safe! Here are the top officers from their respective departments who had the most DUI arrests throughout the year:
Burns Harbor Police Dept (68)
1st Place: Kayvon Karimi (31)
2nd Place: Craig Barnes (25)
Chesterton Police Dept (57)
1st Place: Nicholas Brown (12)
2nd Place: Antonio Alfaro
Hebron Police Dept (88)
1st Place: Anthony Dandurand (48)
2nd Place: Jeff Spicer (21)
Indiana State Police (107)
1st Place: Glen Fifield (45)
2nd Place: Nathan Wolfe
Kouts Police Dept (25)
1st Place: Dale Marshall (10)
2nd Place: Dave Johnsten (9)
Ogden Dunes Police Dept (5)
1st Place: Charlie Mathewson (3)
Portage Police Dept (321)
1st Place: Greg Coleman (88)
2nd Place: Roger Peele (49)
Porter County Sheriff's Dept (175)
1st Place: Brian Gill (32)
2nd Place: Paul Czupryn (27)
Porter Police Dept (23)
1st Place: Martin Gonzalez (6)
2nd Place: Tawni Komisarcik (5)
Valparaiso Police Dept (109)
1st Place: Peter DeYoung (23)
2nd Place: Andrew Taylor (11)