Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, August 28, 1993 TAG: 9308280063
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Armed with a Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles list of the county's habitual offenders - drivers with three or more drunken-driving convictions - county officers this week started dropping by the homes of habitual offenders and verifying their addresses and the types of vehicles they own.
This verification soon will equip all county officers with an updated list of people who have been barred from driving on Virginia's highways.
"We'll pass it on to all our patrol officers," said Lt. Steve Turner, who is helping run the program. "When they drive by the offender's residence or place of employment, they can verify that they are not driving."
The job of confirming the habitual offenders' addresses and vehicle types has been left to the daylight officers.
"They have access to resident managers at apartment complexes and post offices that are not available to midnight officers," Turner said.
County police requested the DMV list after a legislative panel met in Roanoke in July to listen to concerns from citizens about suspended drivers who continue to drive.
The issue was fueled by two highly publicized accidents in which suspended drivers killed people on Roanoke-area highways.
Turner ordered the list from DMV and had officers and dispatchers comb Police Department records, phone books and city directories in order to determine all addresses given for habitual offenders.
Officers started checking addresses this week. If they didn't find the habitual offender there, they checked secondary addresses.
While Roanoke police have taken a less formal approach, city officers have been equipped with a list of the worst habitual offenders.
Thursday, they made their third arrest from their 125-name list since DMV provided it in July. David W. Burch, 32, of Northeast Roanoke was taken into custody when police spotted him with the wrong set of tags on his car.
Major Bob Helm admits that hunting for habitual offenders sometimes is just a matter of being in the right spot at the right time.
"It's a matter of luck when you encounter those people," he said.
City officers in the past year have been plenty lucky. About one-third of the traffic summonses they've issued have been for drivers with suspended licenses.
"I think the DMV list helps," Helm said. "We were doing a good job otherwise. We were already catching a good number of those folks."
The DMV list provided to Roanoke Valley police agencies indicates there is a good number of those folk to catch.
In all, 210 Roanoke metro drivers have been placed in habitual offender status just in the past 2 1/2 years. Of that number, 30 have 10 or more traffic convictions. More than 40 have four or more convictions for driving under the influence.
"These aren't just folks who've failed to pay fines and ended up with their license suspended," Turner said. "These are the most dangerous drivers on the road."
Danger or not, Salem Police Chief Harry Haskins said police administrators are faced with many problems, including a growing number of calls and hiring freezes produced by budget restraints.
In assessing the problem of habitual offenders, Haskins has to play the importance of increased traffic enforcement against critical problems such as drugs and domestic violence.
"It would require a regional task force to pursue habitual offenders," Haskins said, adding that he doesn't have the manpower or equipment that a task force requires.
"Even if I had a grant, I don't have a vehicle to put the officer in," he said.
Lt. Ramey Bower, who runs the traffic division of the Roanoke Police Department, understands Haskins' feeling.
"We just don't have a select group of people doing that," he said. "We don't have that luxury."
by CNB