Police burn midnight oil to catch DUIs

MURRAY — One makes a difference.

For every 10 drivers arrested for driving under the influence, seven don't come back into the legal system, says Art Brown, president of Utah Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

"That is a productive system," he told the 35 troopers who were heading out to arrest drunken drivers in Salt Lake County at the start of Labor Day weekend. "You clean the road for the night. What you do, and being out there, really does make a difference."

For five hours, between 10 p.m. and 3 a.m., troopers planned to patrol highways and state roads near bars to catch impaired drivers.

Among them is UHP's top DUI catcher in Salt Lake County, trooper Rusty Hurd.

Hurd, who has been a trooper for just a year, has made more than 50 DUI arrests since May 1.

Hurd spends a lot of time on the road during his regular graveyard shifts, which happen to coincide with last call at Utah's bars and clubs.

A lot of the time, he can tell he's going to make an arrest when he notices certain kinds of telltale traffic violations: the extra-wide turns, the inability to stay in a travel lane.

But when he approaches an impaired driver, he has at least one goal.

"Let's make this a learning experience," he said.

Sure, the driver is likely going to be arrested for driving under the influence.

"We can get through this," Hurd said. "If they don't learn from it, it's going to be a tough road."

So there's a bit of excitement when he pulls an impaired driver to the roadside. He knows he's keeping the driver and other Utahns safe.

By getting the driver off the road and avoiding a potential crash, "hopefully, I feel like I saved somebody some heartache," Hurd said. "It feels good."

About 20 of the troopers who worked Friday night and into Saturday had their shifts funded through a $5,000 donation from the Utah New Car Dealers Association's charitable organization called Good Wheels.

Mike MacDonald, the association's president, said the association has been donating funds for troopers' extra patrols for the past 10 years.

"As an association, we appreciate what you've done for us in the community," MacDonald said.

Col. Danny Fuhr, UHP superintendent, said MacDonald can be assured, that for every DUI shift, a drunken driver will be arrested.

"Hopefully, we'll take a whole lot of them to jail tonight," Fuhr said.

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