Wisconsin law enforcement agencies sometimes cooperate to arrest drunk drivers by forming what's called an OWI task force.
There are only 11 operating in the state right now, with two more on the way. As chairman of the Southeast Wisconsin Multi-jurisdictional OWI Task Force, Wauwatosa Police Captain Timothy Sharpee is a firm believer that the group effort to deter and stop drunk drivers works. He says officers on the task force are seeing more designated drivers and there's more general awareness of the concentrated law enforcement crackdown.
“The more effort that is out there the more impact it's going to have,” says Sharpee. “I want it to go to other counties.”
He acknowledged rural communities may be reluctant to set up an OWI task force. At a Madison forum presented by the Evidence-Based Health Policy Project, Sharpee said officers in small towns often know everyone.
“It's hard when you are living in that small community with your neighbor who you know drives five miles out of town and gets stinking drunk and then drives his pickup back,” he said.
Sharpee says an OWI task force can help by bringing in outside law enforcement that residents don't recognize. The public's perception that there's a concentration of officers looking for drunk drivers is key to deterrence because research shows most OWI incidents aren’t caught by law enforcement.
OWI arrests have declined the past decade. University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute researcher Paul Moberg says that may be due to more enforcement, general awareness about the hazards of drinking and driving, or just a bad economy in which more people stayed home.
