The NYS STOP-DWI Program was established by historic legislation in November 1981. Today there are 58 counties that operate STOP-DWI Programs led by a STOP-DWI Coordinator. The mission of the STOP-DWI Program is to reduce the number of persons killed or injured in alcohol and other drug-related traffic crashes, promote DWI prevention as a public priority, and to coordinate local efforts among stakeholders.
The Program functions as a finically self-sustaining alcohol and highway safety program. STOP-DWI efforts are funded entirely from fines paid by convicted impaired drivers, no tax dollars are used. While STOP-DWI Program efforts across New York have led to significant reductions in the numbers of alcohol and drug related fatalities, still too many lives are being lost because of crashes caused by drunk or impaired drivers. Highly visible, highly publicized efforts like the STOP DWI High Visibility Engagement Campaign aim to further reduce the incidence of drunk and impaired driving. Participation in these Campaigns is funded by grants from the NYS STOP-DWI Foundation.
As the Tompkins County STOP-DWI Coordinator I am happy to announce the release of a dashboard that provides statistics on alcohol and drug related collisions, alcohol and drug related traffic stops, and High Visibility Engagement Campaign efforts among all local law enforcement agencies (excluding the NYS State Police). My hope is that this dashboard will provide insight into local alcohol and drug impaired driving trends and provide transparency to the community in regard to the enforcement efforts of the local STOP-DWI Program. The dashboard can be found on the Tompkins County Sheriff’s Office Transparency Hub.
https://tompkins-county-sheriffs-office-tompkinscounty.hub.arcgis.com/.
Enforcement is only one prong of the model that the Program follows. Prevention, education, reform, and deterrence efforts are just as important. If you believe that you have ideas that could assist in these other efforts or would like to partner with the STOP-DWI Program, please email me at jolin@tompkins-co.org. To learn more about the NYS STOP- DWI Program visit https://stopdwi.org/.
The Sheriff's Office would like to again thank the Tompkins County Information Technology Services Department for their continued partnership in making this project possible.
