SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Last year in California, more than 210,000 arrests were made by law enforcement officers for driving under the influence (DUI).

While it’s a nearly 3 percent decrease from the previous year’s total number of DUI arrests statewide, impaired driving remains a major traffic safety concern.

“Every day in California officers are apprehending impaired drivers; however, some of these individuals fail to appear for court,” said California Highway Patrol (CHP) Commissioner Joe Farrow. “The DUI warrant service teams were established so these individuals can be held accountable for their actions.”

The CHP spent the past several months attempting to right that wrong, using a grant to deploy teams of law enforcement officers throughout California in counties with an overwhelming number of outstanding arrest warrants issued for individuals charged with DUI who failed to appear for court.

“Through the efforts of the warrant service teams, hundreds of people were brought to justice,” said Commissioner Farrow.

CHP spokesperson Jaime Coffee said the warrants were served in the agency's Southern, Central, Valley and Golden Gate divisions, stretching from Central to Southern California.

Warrant service team operations during this 12-month grant period resulted in 327 people being cited or arrested.

Officers also attempted to serve an additional 545 DUI warrants, which will remain active until these people are arrested or cited. Those totals represent a 22.5 percent increase from warrant service team operations in 2009.

Grant funding also provided training of 33 additional warrant service team members who will aide in future missions.

Warrant service operations are by nature more dangerous than traditional law enforcement operations due to officers entering into either the home or workplace of a subject who is involved in criminal activity.

Additionally, officers may enter a confined space and, being unfamiliar with the structure, inherently they are put at a higher risk.

Funding for the “Driving Under the Influence Warrant Service Project” was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

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