North Bay DUI Arrests in 2010

Patch editors in Marin, Sonoma, Napa and Solano counties asked their local police departments for a list of how many arrests were made in 2010 for driving under the influence.

The city/community police departments listed below responded via email with the total number of 2010 DUI-related arrests.

Only the required filling out a public records request for the information, stating they would respond within 10 days of filing and after the editor paid a $5 fee for the information.

— 631

— 414

San Rafael — 262

— 150 (with an additional 66 in neighboring Cotati)

— 149

— 75

— 58

— 54

— 46

— 33

— 30

— TBA

Each community’s police department we talked to in the North Bay participates in some form with other county law enforcement on additional DUI-based patrols at different times of the year. St. Patrick’s Day is one of those times.

"It is a celebratory day. Places have special events and people can partake a little too much in celebration," Napa Police Sgt. Paul Paniagua said. "Hopefully with it being on a Thursday, people will remember they have to go to work in the morning."

Napa, having the largest population of the 12 North Bay Patch cities, not only had the most DUI arrests in 2010, it had the largest number of officers dedicated to DUI patrols at different times of the year. Napa has five officers focusing on DUI patrols on St. Patrick’s Day.

San Anselmo police held one sobriety checkpoint within the city limits in 2010, as did Mill Valley. Novato police ran three sobriety checkpoints in 2010. The San Rafael Police Department coordinates the sobriety checkpoints for Marin County cities.

For Sonoma County, Petaluma’s police department runs up to a dozen sobriety checkpoints during a given year, and in Sonoma, one officer spends St. Patrick’s Day with a sole focus on DUI enforcement.

In Dixon, officers did nine Saturation Enforcement shifts in 2010, where the officer’s assignment was to focus on possible drunk drivers rather than respond to other calls for service.