Those people who are thinking about drinking and driving in Clarkston may want to pay heed to a new measure by the city’s police department
Interim Police Chief Ernest Combs has conducted two drunken driving stings since the beginning of the year. The first one, conducted on Jan. 26, resulted in two drunk driving arrests, while the second sting on Jan. 31 led to 22 citations issued, but no drunk driving arrests.
According to Combs, the department received some grant money last year through the Traffic Improvement Association in Oakland County to conduct drunk driving stings, but the department would announce beforehand when they were making their move.
When the TIA opted not to renew their grant with the city’s police department for this year, Combs opted for another method to finance drunk driving stings.
He is currently using overtime money from his budget to pay officers on drunk driving patrol during the late night and early morning. The department doesn’t have a regular patrol unit during those hours – police protection is provided by the Oakland County Sheriff’s Department for the city during that time – so those officers assigned to conduct the stings can focus solely on that task.
“Generally, that’s when drunk driving happens, during the late hours,” Combs said. “I want to protect citizens against drunk drivers.”
The overtime budget was originally targeted for special events, such as parades, but Combs has been using reserve police officers, who are unpaid volunteers, to patrol the parades, freeing up the overtime money for drunk driving surveillance.
The other big change is the operations will be conducted unannounced. He said last year’s operations “didn’t seem to make a difference, but you couldn’t tell.”
Combs explained why the department is conducting the stings unannounced. “By not announcing it, the average citizen who decides to drink and drive doesn’t know when we’re doing it,” he said.
Combs, who has been a police officer since 1970 and has worked in the Ferndale and Capac police departments in addition to Clarkston, stated he has seen too many automobile fatalities involving alcohol to remember. In fact, he can only recall one auto-related death during his career that did not involve alcohol.
That’s why he is increasing the department’s efforts to catch drunk drivers. He believes those efforts will pay off in the long run.
“I think it will be very beneficial to the community,” he said.