Read the comments on this article: range from criticism that the article is nothing but a press release from the “lazy cops” to allegation that best DWI performer on the department has been assigned to day shift….
According to the Saratoga Springs Police Department’s recently released annual report, the number of arrests for driving while intoxicated decreased 44 percent in 2010, from 314 in 2009 to 175 last year.
City public safety officials have attributed the decrease in DWI arrests to the loss of seven sworn officers at the beginning of 2010 due to layoffs, and the subsequent staff reorganization which removed one officer from his nightshift traffic patrol to make up for the decrease in day shift personnel.
The following is a first-person account of how the department patrols for intoxicated drivers, portions of which were published as part of The Saratogian’s series on alcoholism.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Officer Joe Carey of the Saratoga Springs Police Department sat downtown in his unmarked Chevrolet Impala on an unseasonably warm Saturday night, waiting for someone to break the traffic rules.   …..MORE