Police try new means to prevent drunk driving

Author: Emma Moros

Last Christmas, the Bennington, Vermont Police Department set out to devise a new plan to combat the usual influx of holiday DWIs. Law enforcement officials decided to find a creative place to advertise the dangers of driving under the influence.

The department came to a conclusion: What better place to advertise against drunk driving than a bar? Better yet, how about advertising on the beverage itself?

Bennington law enforcement did just that, stamping 200 beer glasses with the grave reminder of a Bennington police department logo. The locally manufactured pint glasses - each bearing one of three Bennington Police Department icons - were placed in a local bar called Carmody's Pub.

According to Lt. Paul Doucette of the Bennington Police Department, the unique program has attracted attention from around the world. After the New York Times picked up its story, the department received calls from as far away as Australia inquiring about the program and methods of implementing it in other communities.

As far as an actual decrease in drinking and driving in Bennington, it is too soon to tell exactly how much of an impact the program has made to date. According to Doucette, however, many passengers in cars stopped at checkpoints had either chosen designated drivers or had stopped themselves at two or three beers after noticing the police logo on the pint glasses. Local taxi companies have also informed the police of an increase in passengers who have opted to leave their vehicles at bars and take taxis home instead.

Carmody's Pub, the Irish-style bar carrying the glasses, now serves all of its pint-sized drinks in these glasses. According to one of the Carmody's bartenders, "[The glasses] make people think about what they're doing and about the consequences of their actions."

Despite the potentially positive results of the program thus far, there is a fear that the glasses may be becoming too popular for their own good: the bar has reported that they are losing glasses.

"Someone took two glasses that we paid two-fifty apiece for and sold them for twenty five dollars on EBay," said Doucette with a chuckle.

The program certainly has room for improvement. Doucette mentioned one suggestion for improving the program. "We received an e-mail that pointed out that we didn't actually mention drinking and driving anywhere on the glasses."

In a new initiative that will address this concern, Doucette and the Bennington Police released another round of improved glasses in time for Super Bowl debauchery. These glasses say "DWI - You can't afford it" on one side with the police logo still present on the other side.

The Bennington beer glasses have received local consideration as well. Middlebury, whose drunk driving problem is more severe than Bennington's, might be in greater need of a new DWI deterrant than Bennington. In 2006, Bennington reported 86 arrests for drunk driving while Middlebury, with roughly half the population of Bennington, reported 72 drunk driving arrests by local police the same year.

"Absolutely, it's a problem," said Middlebury Police Chief Thomas Hanley.

Middlebury's status as a college town contributes to the problem. Hanley said, "This is a widespread problem, not one where if we targeted one group it could be solved."

But despite Middlebury's high number of DWIs, Hanley said he was not interested in adopting a program like Bennington's policing pint glasses. Hanley was skeptical of the Bennington program because he felt that the actual effectiveness of the program was hard to guage. According to Hanley, the fact that many of the glasses were simply becoming souvenirs may detract from the actual impact of the warnings. In addition, Hanley said the program is too expensive for the Middlebury police department.

Currently, Middlebury officers seek to combat drunk driving through meetings with local bar owners about monitoring the behavior of patrons and by limiting the amount of alcohol they serve. Bar owners must also regularly attend Department of Liquor training sessions.

Middlebury bars may not have such fancy glasses, but Hanley believes local efforts are working. "Our officers are seeing more designated drivers among the college students," Chief Thomas Hanley said. DWIs are decreasing in one sector of the populations and the Bennington Police hope this is a trend that will continue.