Virginia Beach police, Navy curb DUIs before they start

VIRGINIA BEACH

Armed with a slide show of sobering statistics and photos depicting twenty something sailors lying dead on the pavement, three officers from the Police Department's Traffic Safety Unit boarded the aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman on Friday.

Over a three-day period ending Sunday afternoon, they'll preach the dangers of drunken driving, a message the team hopes will stick when the sailors return from sea, said Sgt. Scott Witchtendahl, the unit's leader.

The Police Department's safety lectures, provided in coordination with the Navy's Fleet Forces Command, are one of several programs aimed at reducing the number of sailors who drive while drunk. And they seem to be working, according to Navy statistics.

Fewer local sailors got behind the wheel last year after drinking, said Marie Parker, the Alcohol and Drug Control Officer for Fleet Forces Command. Between fiscal years 2008 and 2009, drunken-driving arrests declined 6 percent among Tidewater-based sailors and 9 percent among the local commands that hosted DUI-prevention lectures, she said.

Parker and local Navy officials would not disclose the total number of arrests in Hampton Roads.

Navy DUI s are also on the decline nationwide, according to statistics from the Tennessee-based Navy Personnel Command. In the past five years, they've decreased 27.5 percent from 2,127 arrests in fiscal year 2004 to 1,542 in fiscal year 2009, which ended Sept. 30, according to the personnel command.

Wichtendahl, of the Virginia Beach police, attributes the drop to a fundamental change in Navy culture. He's served on the newly renamed Traffic Safety Unit, which specializes in stopping impaired driving, for the past 15 years.

"We don't have an excessive number of Navy DUI s, and I think it's because of programs like this," he said. "The culture has completely changed. It's no longer acceptable to have alcohol-involved incidents."

Despite improvements in the number of sailors arrested for drunken driving, problems still persist. Traffic Safety Unit Officer Brad Liverman said four of the last five DUI arrests he made were Navy sailors.

"It makes me sick," said Liverman, who retired from the Navy after 24 years of service. "Because I know what's going to happen to that person. I know they're not going to get promoted and some are going to get kicked out."

The Navy has a comprehensive education effort and programs to provide safe rides home for intoxicated sailors, Parker said. But statistics, whether they go up or down, don't mean a whole lot, she said.

"We do everything we can to prevent our sailors from making bad decisions," Parker said. "But it's ultimately the individual's decision."

"It's never been about the numbers for us," she later added. "Because sometimes they'll rise, and you can't control that."

By the end of the year, Wichtendahl and his team will have given at least 35 Navy lectures on the consequences of drunken driving, he said. They also address speeding, red light running and seatbelt usage.

They try to drive home the double consequences sailors face when arrested for impaired driving, Liverman said. First there's the civil penalties, which can include jail time, hefty fines and license revocation. Then there's the military action, which can include pay reduction and job loss.

The vast majority - 97 percent - of Navy sailors arrested for drunken driving are enlisted, according to Navy Personnel Command. But it can happen to anyone, Liverman said.

The legal limit for driving in Virginia is a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.08. For most people, that's two to four beers.

Wichtendahl said the number of Navy DUI arrests is roughly proportional to the local Navy population. As of May 2008, there were about 28,000 sailors stationed in Virginia Beach and 63,200 stationed in Norfolk.

Drive Safe Hampton Roads, a regional traffic safety group, recognized the joint DUI-prevention efforts of the Virginia Beach police and Fleet Forces Command during an award ceremony Tuesday.

They received the John T. Hanna Award for Impaired Driving Prevention.

The Navy and Beach police said they'll be continuing their programs for the foreseeable future.

"I don't know if we reach anyone," Liverman said. "But if you reach one, it's all worth it."

Kathy Adams, (757) 222-5155, kathy.adams@pilotonline.com