Snohomish County DUI Attorney: Target Zero focuses DUI emphasis on Snohomish County and King County

The Following is from the Washington State Patrol

TARGET ZERO TEAMS LAUNCH COMBINED ANTI-DUI EFFORT
-Data, intense patrols and expert prosecutors aim to reduce DUI deaths.
(Seattle)—Starting tonight, if you choose to drink and drive in King, Pierce or Snohomish counties you stand a greatly increased chance of being caught and convicted.
That's the message from nearly three-dozen police agencies whose officers will spend the next two years on one of three Target Zero Teams- a multi-agency task force that will intensely hunt impaired drivers in the three-county area.
"Washington has long been a national leader in highway safety," said Governor Chris Gregoire. "I am so pleased to see these Target Zero Teams deployed to areas where we've had the highest number of tragedies caused by impaired driving."
The Target Zero Teams are funded by a two-year grant from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA.) The project goes far beyond traditional DUI squads of the past.
Experienced planners will use the latest GIS mapping software to guide the Target Zero patrols. Team members will know where crashes are occurring and which roads lead to high-collision areas.
State troopers, sheriff's deputies and city police officers will be out every night of the week looking for impaired drivers. Each officer was selected by his or her agency because they are the most motivated and experienced at arresting impaired drivers.
Traffic Safety Resource Prosecutors will work with officers to improve the quality and content of their investigations and reports. These prosecutors are also available to, upon request, assist local prosecutors in presenting the best possible cases in court.
"These will be intense, multi-agency, data driven patrols with the goal of reducing fatalities and serious injuries," said Lowell Porter, director of the Washington Traffic Safety Commission (WTSC.) "We will use objective data to make sure we're patrolling the right roads, at the right time, with officers very experienced at arresting impaired drivers."
The grant also funds research to measure every aspect of performance and results.
"We think this could become a national model for reducing tragedies related to impaired driving," Porter added. "We want to develop the absolute best practices for saving lives."
The core of these Target Zero Teams will be 21 members of the Washington State Patrol. Six troopers and one sergeant will work full-time in each county. County and local agencies will contribute deputies or officers as time and resources permit.
Some agencies will participate using overtime funding provided by WTSC. Some are committing their own officers on a full-time basis.
"We've long had regional, multi-agency teams for serious crimes such as narcotics and auto theft," said State Patrol Chief John R. Batiste. "It's time we applied that same successful approach to the very serious crime of impaired driving."
Batiste is especially happy to have two expert prosecutors as team members.
"These are highly skilled and very experienced prosecutors. They will help our troopers, deputies and officers do better investigations and write better reports," Batiste said. "If you choose to drink and drive, we're going to do more than catch you. We're going to build a very solid case against you."
Joining Batiste and others for a kick-off event at Boeing Field was Laura Dean-Mooney, National President of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
"MADD is proud to support the outstanding efforts of law enforcement officers participating in Target Zero Teams. Their work will help to reach the goal of eliminating impaired driving in Washington—a goal that MADD is striving for in every state. By strategically using highway safety data, these teams will make Washington a leader in reducing preventable deaths and injuries at the hands of DUI drivers," Mooney said.
The teams have been training for the previous two weeks, brushing up their skills and getting the latest legal and scientific guidance for processing arrestees. They hit the road this evening for their first official night of patrolling.
The name "Target Zero" is drawn from the state's plan to reduce highway deaths to zero by the year 2030.
TZT Participating Agencies

King County	Pierce County	Snohomish County
Auburn Bellevue Federal Way Issaquah Kent King County SO Kirkland Redmond Renton	Bonney Lake Edgewater Fife Lakewood Milton Orting Pierce County SO Puyallup Sumner Tacoma University Place	Arlington Bothell Brier Edmonds Everett Granite Falls Lake Stevens Lynnwood Marysville Mill Creek Monroe Mountlake Terrace Snohomish Snohomish County SO SnoPAC Dispatch Tulalip Tribal

　
　
For information on your Washington State DUI please contact our Snohomish County DUI attorneys, Whatcom County DUI attorneys, King County DUI attorneys, Island County DUI attorneys, Skagit County DUI attorneys, Mt Vernon DUI attorneys, Everett DUI attorneys, Lynnwood DUI attorneys, Mukilteo DUI attorneys, or Anacortes DUI attorneys at 425-493-1115 or check out our website at http://www.washdui.com