Gilpin Getting Tough on DUI

GCN Staff

The Gilpin County Sheriff’s Office has decided to get tough on Driving Under the Influence violators.  This year the county has held two DUI checkpoint operations, and now the Department has asked for funding in the amount of $40,400 to pick up the pace in 2005.

According to Sergeant Bob Enney, Gilpin County DUI arrests were down in 2003, but are now up again in 2004.  Whether that has to do with the DUI checkpoints remains to be seen.  But, statistics contained in the grant application, which was approved by Gilpin County last week and will be forwarded to the Colorado Department of Transportation, reflect Gilpin County had 49 DUI arrests in 2002, 32 in 2003, and has already had 35 for the first six months of 2004.

Also according to the statistics, DUI drivers were involved in 116 of 156 traffic crashes in Gilpin County during the report period, and the average blood alcohol was .131.  The information was collated from the Black Hawk, Central City, Colorado State Patrol and Gilpin County Sheriff’s Department.

Enney said the Sheriff’s Department is responsible for 150 square miles and that includes four major highways, including the under construction Central City Expressway.  The Expressway is being built especially as an access route to the Gilpin County gaming areas from the Denver metroplex.

In addition to access to gaming, the highways also serve as a thoroughfare to the ski areas and to the Rocky Mountain National Park, and SH. 119, the major route traversing Gilpin County, has been designated as a Scenic By-way.  In addition, camping and hiking also bring folks into Gilpin County.

Alcohol is a part of life in the gaming cities of Central City and Black Hawk.  Enney points out that there are 25 casinos in the gaming cities that are in the business of serving alcohol to gamblers from 8 a.m. to 2 a.m.  It is as much a part of the adult recreation business as gambling and watching floor shows.  In addition, numerous bars and restaurants exist in Gilpin County and in the surrounding counties of Jefferson, Boulder, and Clear Creek.

The ski industry also partakes from time to time.  Enney says, “Like the gaming industry, the ski industry has a tendency to attribute to the use of alcohol and drugs.”

Although the county and the community within Gilpin County have supported law enforcement and its efforts to control DUIs, Enney says the effort is beyond the reach of local agencies.  He says that due to current trends (economic and criminal) and the increasing crimes, the Gilpin County Sheriff’s Office needs help keeping up.  For that reason, Enney has submitted a grant asking for $40,400.

Plans for the Sheriff’s Department to use that money are already in the works.  Those plans include efforts to promote safe driving in high schools, including the “Stay Alive at 25 Program,” and efforts to coordinate more DUI checkpoints during holidays during 2005.

If the grant is approved, the money will be used to pay overtime for Gilpin County Deputies to man checkpoints, for DUI checkpoint signs, reflective vests, a video recorder camcorder, LED light sticks, a radar unit, and a trunk mounted in-car video recording system.