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Z IIIL CITY OF SAN MARCOS OFFICE MEMORANDUM TO: A. C. Gonzalez, City Manager, via Myron L. Galchutt, Chief of Police FROM: Sergeant Carl H. Deal/Coordinator-Traffic Enforcement Division iUBJECT: Highway Safety Funding DATE: September 16, 1986 RE: Urban STEP (Selective Traffic Enforcement Programs) Since 1980, forty eight (48) people have lost their lives in traffic accidents in San Marcos. In 1982, San Marcos and Hays County were number one in the State in DWI / Per Capita arrests. In 1984, the City of San Marcos alone had the highest alcohol relationship to fatality and injury collisions over every other City in the State. During that year, eighty percent of eleven (11) fatality accidents were alcohol/drug related. Throughout the same period, the San Marcos Police Department has been subject to consistently increasing requests and needs for service. Since 1982, calls for service have increased by approximately 18.5%. Accident investiga- tions have increased by some 32%. Arrests are up by over 23%. By the end of 1986, the Police will have responded to approximately 18,000 calls for service, investigate approximately 2,100 accidents, make 2,186 arrests, and write over 6,262 investigation reports. The change in service requirements have correspondingly increased the indivi- dual work requirement of each individual officer. Officers are simply doing more work with less time to do it. A paradoxical complication to the service activity increases is a 41.8% decrease in the number of DWI arrests since 1983. Changes in State Law, Public Awareness Campaigns, and an increased Police presence 'vith the 1985 implementation of the Traffic Enforcement Division, have no doubt played some role in reducing the overall DWI arrest rate. A DWI arrest is however a time consuming and complex arrest/investigation. In that DWI is primarily a nighttime problem, arrests often occur during peak hours of Police activity. It is not uncommon for service calls to be backed up and on hold for the next available officer. It is likely that an officer making a DWI arrest will remain unavailable for as much as one and one half hours. An individual officer's contemplation of a DWI Arrest will consider fellow officer safety if he becomes unavailable, reduced manpower on the street, officer availabil- ity for emergencies, among a number of other concerns. The increased work required of each individual officer indeed contributed to a reduced priority to remove the drunk driver from the road. With 1,942 accidents investigated in 1985, San Marcos remains a leader in alcohol relationship to fatality and injury collisions. It is San Marcos' unique environment and alarming statistics that have made San Marcos eligible for Federal Highway Safety Funding. CSM-100