No refusing DUI crackdown's success

Alfredo Sanchez of Round Lake Beach fits the definition of a habitual drunken driver, sporting a criminal resume featuring eight arrests, five convictions and two pending cases.

His cases now in the Lake County court system stem from a Jan. 6 arrest in Mundelein, followed by another one five months later while he was out on bond. He's looking at 30 years behind bars for each if convicted.

Sanchez, 23, is not alone. We've written about plenty of habitual offenders across the suburbs. Some are noteworthy because they were involved in crashes that killed innocent victims; others because of the sheer number of arrests.

Chronic drunken drivers are now the targets of a crackdown backed by innovative weapons, including coordinated efforts aimed at long stretches of road and closing a legal loophole used by experienced offenders.

The aim is to reduce the 13,000 DUI-related fatalities averaged nationwide each year. That figure has remained fairly level in the last decade after years of decline since law enforcement began focusing on the crime in the early 1980s.

Law enforcement officials believe, and we agree, a large part of the blame rests with chronic drunken drivers.

Many suburban police departments actively hunt for drunken drivers, but a couple of successful efforts this year in Kane and Lake counties offer new options others can consider to extend their legal reach.

Law enforcement officials in those counties chose summer holiday weekends - traditionally prime time for drunken driving - to roll out new "no refusal" enforcement programs.

Anyone who refuses a breath test to measure blood-alcohol levels when suspected of DUI meets with a prosecutor who informs them a search warrant will be issued for a blood draw.

Experienced DUI offenders often play the odds of a six-month license suspension if they refuse the test, versus at least a year suspension if they take the test and are convicted.

In Illinois, statistics show up to 40 percent of DUI suspects pass on the breath test.

The result of the no refusal efforts in Lake and Kane? Most suspects submitted, and the few who opposed the blood test face contempt of court.

Experts agree no legal rights are violated. The law gives a motorist the right to refuse a breath test, but it also allows for use of search warrants to collect evidence of criminal activity.

Most recently, Lake County made "no refusal" part of its extensive Labor Day weekend enforcement. Instead of concentrating on a single intersection, a host of state, local and county police agencies coordinated DUI enforcement along the entire stretch of Milwaukee Avenue from the Cook County border in Buffalo Grove north to Gurnee.

Think of the possibilities similar efforts could offer on long stretches of Route 12 or Golf Road.

Drunken drivers beware.