The Crystal Lake Police was recognized Dec. 14 by the Illinois Department of Transportation and the Alliance Against Intoxicated Motorists for its work in DUI enforcement.

The citizens' activist group was created in 1982 to provide victim advocacy, legislative initiatives and prevention programs relating to drunk driving. IDOT funds AAIM's court watcher program through a grant which follows the misdemeanor DUI cases that go before a judge in McHenry County, collects the results and sends the compiled data to IDOT.  

AAIM took its information to county police departments asking what might be done to lower the percentages of summary suspensions rescinded in the hopes tougher prosecution for first-time offenders might curtail the number of repeat DUI offenders.

"Usually many first-time offenders get supervision," said Cathy Stanley, director of AAIM's court watcher program. "Our point is with that driver's license–make that a big deal so that they think the next time; so they don't think it's no big deal to drink and drive."

Crystal Lake decreased the number of statutory summary suspensions from 39.5 percent last year to 2.9 percent in 2010 due to collaboration with prosecutors.

"We tightened up our reporting and our testimony and our actions on the street and asked our prosecutors to do the same when it comes to prosecuting or defending these suspensions in hearings to rescind them," Police Commander Daniel Dziewior. "We were certainly not going to use it as a negotiating tool or allow those suspensions to be rescinded without cause."

On the prosecutor's side, Michael Coppedge partner of Cowlin, Naughton, Curran & Coppedge in Crystal Lake, and the firm's associate attorney Justin Hansen review and track each case individually with police to build a strong case.

"I think that obviously it has to be a joint cooperative effort," said partner and Crystal Lake City Attorney John Cowlin. "Basically what we did was we said we're going to take a zero tolerance approach to this."

McHenry County State's Attorney Lou Bianchi credited AAIM's efforts which spurred police and prosecutors to work harder to build stronger cases and for police to diligently collect evidence from the scene.

"The four police departments receiving awards have listened and responded," Bianchi said, adding that Illinois is one of the toughest states on DUI offenders.

Huntley, Algonquin and Cary police departments were also recognized during an awards presentation during the McHenry County Police Chief's Luncheon at the Woodstock Country Club.

Huntley's numbers went from 40 percent to zero; Algonquin from 7.1 percent to 4.9 percent; and Cary 61.8 percent to 19.1 percent.

"Both IDOT and AAIM are extremely grateful to these police departments and prosecutors to make our roads safer," Stanley said at the presentation.

IDOT's Division of Traffic Safety Resource Prosecutor, Elizabeth Earleywine, also commended the departments for their efforts and reminded police training is available from IDOT.

"We appreciate you doing that; it helps decrease the amount of recidivism. We really can make a difference in keeping fatalities down. Please keep it up."