For three years, Mothers Against Drunk Driving has been working to shorten the time it takes to process driving-under-the-influence cases in several Nebraska counties.
So far, their efforts have been paying off.
DUI cases in the fall of 2007 were taking 192 days to process, down from 285 days in October of 2004, when MADD began the study, according to a MADD report.
One way MADD is attempting to shorten the process is through court monitoring, in which a representative from MADD sits in on the proceedings of a selected DUI case to “help ensure court efficiency,” said Simera Reynolds, executive director of MADD Nebraska.
“The community is a stakeholder in the courts,” Reynolds said.
Reynolds said a person drives drunk 87 times on average before he or she is arrested. By monitoring as many DUI cases as possible, she said MADD’s presence during proceedings shaves time “if there is an evidence problem or if the defense is taking time to plea or if a judge is holding (the case) up.”
Reynolds said that since she started working for MADD nine years ago, car accident fatality rates have plummeted to record lows, dropping from 120 incidents in 2000 to 60 last year.
This drop in days taken to prosecute DUI cases seems to be unique to Lancaster County, as Sarpy, Gage, Saline and Saunders counties, showed only slight, if any, changes.
Some of the reason for this might be the incline in DUI arrests in the City of Lincoln, which are up 17.5 percent over the last year.
“Crime overall is down in Lincoln,” said Katie Flood, public information officer for the Lincoln Police Department, in a September interview with the Daily Nebraskan. “That gives officers more time to practice proactive enforcement.”
This proactive enforcement includes officers pulling over drivers for violating various traffic laws, Flood said.
“There’s no particular reason for the increase (in DUI arrests),” she said. “We just want to ensure people’s safety on the road.”
The LPD has been working hard to crack down on drunk drivers, and local attorneys have been taking notice.
“(DUI) numbers have gone up consistently,” said Jeanelle Kleveland of Kleveland Law, a private practice in downtown Lincoln. “As far as time, the courts in Lancaster County run pretty smoothly.”
Kleveland hasn’t noticed a time when MADD sat in on a case she worked, but said that lately there has been a “lot of political pressure not to plea bargain.”
The increase in arrests for DUI, along with fewer plea agreements, have given Lancaster County plenty of reasons to save time in the form of an increased workload.
“I don’t think any cases would take 290 days,” Kleveland said. “There’s the speedy trial issue. The only way a case would take over 180 days is if the defendant files certain motions to do so.”
With the start of the new calendar year, MADD is gearing up for the fight to keep drunk drivers off the streets nationwide.
“We just want people to think when they get behind the wheel and not drink and drive,” Reynolds said. “It’s great when everybody works together for a safe community.”