Utah's DUI reporting mess

Everyone who steps into a car in Utah is playing a form of Russian roulette. No one likes to think that a driver amid oncoming traffic or in the next lane over is loaded, ready to turn his or her vehicle into a deadly weapon. But it is a statistical certainty that some of them are.

And, while that statistical measure probably is lower in Utah than in any other state, no one really knows. Simply put, drunken driving records in this state are a mess.

In past weeks, we have cited statistics on the number of people arrested for drunken driving in Utah, and on the number of people killed in alcohol-related accidents. The truth is, it's hard to get a good handle on reliable drunken driving statistics in Utah. In fact, it's almost impossible for prosecutors to know whether someone they are trying to convict has had a prior arrest or conviction for DUI.

As a result, too many drunken driving cases end up like that of Kirk Kenneth Denis, who finally was sentenced to jail earlier this year despite being arrested repeatedly over the last 10 years in various jurisdictions.

It took the tenacity of a Deseret News reporter to finally piece together much of the information. Denis had been arrested and convicted six times. Five of the arrests came along some of the Wasatch Front's busy freeways, where he put the lives of many people at risk. Once he was caught driving recklessly and drunk with a young child in the car.

At the time of his last arrest, several jurisdictions were trying to untangle the mess. A Justice Court judge in Murray asked for a history, and what he got confused him. Both the state Bureau of Criminal Identification and the Utah Driver License Division reported two previous arrests, but the judge couldn't tell whether they were the same cases.

When this happens, local jurisdictions scurry for cover. No one wants to take responsibility. Everyone claims to be doing his or her job and points the finger elsewhere. The result is a three-ring circus of justice, and the driver often is reloaded into the chamber for another round of Russian roulette.

This is a scandal, and everyone from the governor to the Legislature to the average person who gets into a car and worries about the competence of other drivers should be outraged.

In the Denis case, several jurisdictions never sent information about his conviction to the Bureau of Criminal Identification. Officials in Bluffdale, one of the cities in which he was arrested, reacted defensively when asked about this. The case had not been closed because Denis still was serving probation there, they said. They are not supposed to forward information until the case is closed. Their reaction was typical.