
                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, June 14, 1994                    TAG: 9406140377 
SECTION: LOCAL                     PAGE: B4    EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: Short 
DATELINE: 940614                                 LENGTH:

DUI PROGRAM WINS AWARD

{LEAD} Hampton was recognized Monday by the United States Conference of Mayors and The Century Council as one of eight U.S. cities with outstanding efforts to reduce drunken driving.

{REST} Among cities with populations of 100,000 or more, Hampton received the $15,000 Inspiration Award for its Habitual Offender Project, an effort to apprehend repeat drunken drivers, who are responsible for a disproportionate share of the city's alcohol-related traffic incidents.

Hampton's Police Division, working with the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, concentrated on 88 of the city's worst offenders - residents who had three or more drunken-convictions.

The program began in 1989, and within two years, 58 percent of all habitual offenders in Hampton were arrested for violations of their sentences for repeat DUI violations. In the past five years, alcohol-related crashes in Hampton have declined 36 percent and alcohol-related fatalities have dropped 70 percent. The Habitual Offender Project has been adopted by 107 other Virginia law enforcement agencies.

by CNB