Local cops to be watching out for drunk and drugged driving this weekend, with prosecutors ready to help

Local police agencies, including those in Elgin and Carpentersville, will be watching for both drunk and drugged driving this New Year’s weekend as the number of crashes involving cannabis increase across the state.

The Illinois Department of Transportation-funded zero-tolerance campaign continues through Tuesday, and locally it will be getting some help from the Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office.

“This new year’s we have a no-refusal weekend,” Elgin police Cmdr. Steve Bianchi said.

Elgin police do several such weekends every year. Prosecutors from the state’s attorney’s office are on call to request and process body warrants to conduct blood tests on drivers suspected of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. A phlebotomist is also available to ensure blood can be obtained.

While drunk driving has been a longstanding problem, the number of arrests for drugged driving has been increasing, especially in the years since cannabis purchase and consumption was legalized for adults.

Elgin police made 234 DUI arrests in 2022, 17 of which involved driving while under the influence of drugs. This year so far there have been 234 DUI arrests and 10 involved drugged driving, according to department statistics.

Locally, there’ve been several fatalities involving young drivers charged with driving under the influence of drugs. The most recent occurred in August when South Elgin High School student Aanomeya Jacquline D. Henry was charged with being under the influence of drugs following a crash that killed her sister and a friend on Route 25 in Bartlett.

How cannabis, alcohol, or other drugs affect a someone’s ability to drive depends on the person, Bianchi said.

“We’ve seen drunk drivers that fly, doing well above the speed limit. We have drunk drivers who think they are flying but are going five miles an hour,” he said.

“Both are equally dangerous,” Bianchi said. A person driving impaired is “like somebody getting behind the wheel of a lethal weapon,” he said.

The holiday enforcement also is a way to educate the public about driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. AAA’s 2021 Traffic Safety Culture Index revealed that only 65% of respondents considered driving shortly after using marijuana to be very or extremely dangerous.

Elgin police Officer John Cox, who is assigned to the traffic division, said he finds people believe driving while under the influence of cannabis to be no big deal, he said. But that’s beginning to change as “people are starting to understand some of the dangers,” he said. “There’s still a long way to go before we understand that the dangers are the same as (driving while drinking).”

Detecting impaired drivers, whether driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, is similar. Both involve making observations and using basic roadside tests, Cox said.

Officer Dan Kazy-Garey, also assigned to the traffic division, agreed.

“We look at DUI as a whole, not looking specifically for drugs or alcohol,” he said.

The first observation is how a vehicle is in motion, Kazy-Garey said. The chief indicators are speeding, driving too slowly or stopping at a green light, he said.

Next is what the driver is like during personal contact, Kazy-Garey said. If the officer asks for a driver’s license and insurance card but is given an ATM card, it’s a sign something might not be right, he said.

Field sobriety tests can be done, but the best way to determine if someone is impaired by drugs is a blood or urine test, the officers said. If someone refuses give a sample voluntarily, Elgin police can contact the state’s attorney’s to obtain a body warrant then take the person to a local hospital for the test, Bianchi said.

The samples go to the Illinois State Police lab for testing. The results can take a month or longer, he said.

The Elgin Police Department is planning to work with a company that provides certified phlebotomists to make it more convenient for police to get a blood sample, Bianchi said. A policy for that new initiative needs to be created, he said.

The department also has two officers who are certified drug recognition evaluators and work the night shift, Bianchi said. The process of becoming certified is extensive, requiring a week of classes and hours of on-the-job training and assessments, he said.

Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.