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State To Roll Out 24/7 Sobriety Pilot Program

Five Counties Selected To Monitor Repeat OWI Offenders

By
UC Irvine (CC-BY-NC-ND)

The Wisconsin Department of Justice has selected five counties to take part in its 24/7 Sobriety Pilot Program, which seeks to cut down on the number of repeat offenders operating a vehicle while intoxicated.

The state chose Green Lake, Manitowoc, Racine, Washburn and Oneida counties for the program. People who take part may be able to reduce their sentence. Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel said the program will monitor participants to make sure they’re not drinking or doing drugs.

“To make sure that they’re going to be sober in the time right after their arrest while their case is pending,” he said. “That’s the most important time to start making life changes so that we don’t get a repeated behavior.”

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Offenders will be under constant supervision and submit to regular testing for drugs or alcohol. Schimel said participants will pay for testing and program costs on a sliding fee scale.

“A lot of times it’s the offender using money that they haven’t had to use to post for bail,” said Schimel. “And, then, if they succeed while in the program, the judge can offset what they’ve contributed in the program when they set fines at sentencing time.”

If successful, he said it will lead to smarter sentences for offenders and fewer people behind bars.

“By the time that person gets to sentencing, the judge has a better idea of what to do with the case because they know whether this person has been able to demonstrate some success leading up to sentencing time or whether they’ve struggled and the judge needs to take stronger actions to prevent future problems,” Schimel said.

Capt. Lloyd Gauthier of the Oneida County Sheriff’s Department said they’ve seen a large increase in the number of people driving while under the influence of prescription drugs. He said OWI arrests are pretty rare when one compares the number of people on the road to the number of law enforcement.

“Then, to be arrested multiple times, it just shows the number of times they are operating under the influence and not getting caught,” he said.

The county averaged roughly 564 arrests each year for people operating while intoxicated. Forty-two percent were repeat offenses, according to most recent figures from the DOJ. Green Lake, Racine, Washburn and Manitowoc counties also found roughly a third or more of their arrests were repeat offenses.