Capt. John Travaglia, executive officer of the 104th Precinct, seated on the right, and Community Affairs Officer Thomas Bell, attended the Middle Village Property Owners and Residents Association to give a crime breakdown for the precinct. Forum Newsgroup Photo by Jeremiah Dobruck.
There’s been a “dramatic” spike in drunken driving arrests recently across Middle Village, Maspeth, Ridgewood and Glendale, police from the 104th Precinct reported this week.
Precinct commanders say it’s due to proactively pulling drivers over.
So far this year, officers in the precinct have arrested 78 motorists for driving under the influence, said Capt. John Travaglia, executive officer of the 104th, who focuses heavily on traffic in the area.
Just during the last 28-day period of crime statistics, officers made 15 driving while intoxicated arrests compared to four during the same timeframe last year.
“We’re up dramatically in regards to that,” Travaglia told audience members at the Middle Village Property Owners and Residents Association on Monday night.
Travaglia said the jump is because of a focus on enforcement—not an increase in motorists driving drunk.
He said since before the year started, the 104th specifically has been trying to crack down on drunken driving.
To support this, he broke down the numbers; well more than half of the arrests happened before the drunken driver had a chance to hit someone.
Of the 78 arrests, officers made 48 by observing the car and pulling over the driver. That’s a 71 percent increase of DWI arrests in that manner compared to this time last year.
That left 30 arrests this year that happened after a collision.
Audience members wanted to know if there are any problem areas across the precinct where the arrests are concentrated, but Travaglia said there are not.
“They’re all over,” he said. “They really take place in any area. They’re definitely scattered throughout the precinct.”
Travaglia said many of these drivers are first-time offenders, although he’s seen a few repeat drunken drivers.
He added that some high-profile deaths such as George Gibbons, a Maspeth bar owner who was struck by a drunken driver, have helped the department keep its focus on the enforcement.
By Jeremiah Dobruck
j.dobruck@theforumnewsgroup.com
