No DWI arrests have been made during the first month of extra traffic enforcement in Pine County.
According to the Pine County Sheriff's Office, in the first 30 days of October, the deputy made 103 stops, gave out 21 citations, and arrested six individuals not related to impaired driving.
The enforcement is due to a grant that was awarded to the county by the Department of Public Safety in August of this year due to the high number of impaired driving deaths compared to other counties in the State of Minnesota. The grant allows for one Pine County deputy to focus solely on traffic enforcement from October 1, 2019, through September 30, 2020, in the hopes of reducing the number of impaired driving deaths in Pine County.
Since the beginning of this grant process, Sheriff Jeff Nelson has been focused on how to decrease the number of impaired driving instances.
"I have always viewed traffic enforcement as a way to alter people’s decisions – starting with public education about a concern, giving appropriate warnings and ultimately citations or arrests, Sheriff Nelson said. "The arrest is never the end goal, it is about the decisions that lead up to the event. The education piece of impaired driving has been in place for years. Hopefully, it is having a positive impact."
