NORWICH – Stop DWI teamed up with the Chenango County Sheriff's Office and the Norwich Police Department to enforce the agency's crackdown on drinking and/or drugging and driving. Stop DWI, the CCSO and the NPD set up a joint-agency DWI sobriety checkpoint on Rexford St. in the City of Norwich on Dec. 20.

The DWI sobriety checkpoints are funded by the crackdown grants given to the agency by the state. Stop DWI has a two-part solution to drinking and/or drugging and driving: education and enforcement. When education does not deter driving under the influence, enforcement is the last resort.

NPD Assistant Chief Scott Burlison said, “The governor and the state are taking driving under the influence very seriously. If you watch TV, there are commercials advertising against drunk driving and warning the public that law enforcement is cracking down. The checkpoints are part of the campaign to get drunk drivers off the road.”

“So far we have made arrests at every checkpoint,” added Burlison.

The Dec. 20 sobriety checkpoint was the third checkpoint conducted by the three agencies. CCSO Sergeant C. Ted Ellingsen said, “I think it was very successful. I think the biggest success is that we got the word out there that we are checking whether or not people are driving under the influence.”

According to Ellingsen, the three biggest drinking holidays are “Black Wednesday,” which is the day before Thanksgiving, the Superbowl and St. Patrick's Day. “We do checkpoints on all the big holidays where people might be drinking or using drugs, like Halloween or Thanksgiving,” said Burlison.

“Our goal is to educate the public, and when we have enforce the law, we are just doing our job. The trend always seems to be, let's make the public aware of what's going on. That's our biggest job, to deter drunk-driving. If they know we are out, they might get a cab or get a designated driver,” added Ellingsen.