On Oct. 1, the unit received $225,000 in federal traffic safety funding for the fiscal year that ends on Sept. 30, 2020, said Pete Reising, the task force coordinator. The funding pays for the costs to conduct the OVI checkpoints and saturation patrols.
Agencies receiving reimbursement through the grant include Middletown, Hamilton, Fairfield, Monroe, Fairfield Twp., Oxford, Fairfield Twp., New Miami, Ross Twp., Trenton, Oxford Twp., West Chester and Miami University police departments and the Butler County Sheriff’s Office. The Ohio State Highway Patrol is also a participating agency but is not reimbursed through that grant.
Other than the highway patrol, Reising said Fairfield police has the highest OVI arrest rate by a Butler County-based law enforcement agency.
“These funds are critical to ensuring that we are doing everything possible to keep our streets safe,” Reising said. “This funding will benefit the citizens of Butler County as we continue our mission to save lives and make our roadways safer.”
Over the past five fiscal years, the task force has conducted 93 sobriety checkpoints and saturation patrols, or about 19 per year. During those checkpoints and patrols, the task force has been in contact with 44,820 drivers, or about 8,964 drivers per year.
Officers have made about 65 OVI arrests at the checkpoints over the past five fiscal years, an average of 13 OVI arrests per year. Reising said the totals for fiscal year 2018-19 are approximate. The totals also do not reflect all of the other arrests made during a stop for additional investigation on drugs, weapons, outstanding warrants and traffic infractions.
In Butler County, the highway patrol and local police officers have made more than 7,400 OVI arrests over the past five fiscal years, according to their statistics.
Reising said the past fiscal year, 2018-19, saw a 50 percent reduction in OVI-related fatal crashes from 14 in 2017-18 to seven. There were a total 54 fatal crashes over the past five fiscal years.
In the past five fiscal years, there have been 965 OVI-related injury crashes in Butler County. Injury crashes spiked to 291 in 2015-16 but have been trending down in the past three fiscal years.
“Without the OVI grant, the OVI arrests made during grant hours would not have occurred,” Reising said. “Those arrests saved lives. That is the mission of the Butler County OVI Task Force — to save lives.”
Butler County OVI Task Force
Grant amount for the 2019-20 fiscal year: $225,000
Number of Butler County police agencies involved in OVI grant: 13*
Number of OVI-related fatal crashes in 2018-19: 7
Total number of OVI-related fatal crashes in past five fiscal years: 54
Number of OVI-related injury crashes in 2018-19: 127**
Total number of OVI-related injury crashes in past five fiscal years: 965
Number of OVI arrests county-wide in 2018-19: 1,390
Total number of OVI arrests county-wide in past five fiscal years: 7,419
Number of county OVI checkpoints in 2018-19: 20
Total number of county OVI checkpoints in past five fiscal years: 93
Number of driver contacts during OVI checkpoints in 2018-19: 9,572
Total number of driver contacts at OVI checkpoints in past five fiscal years: 44,820
Number of OVI arrests at the checkpoints in 2018-19: 8
Total number of OVI arrests at the checkpoints in past five fiscal years: 65
SOURCE: Butler County OVI Task Force
*Does not include the Ohio State Highway Patrol as they are not reimbursed from the OVI grant.
**Not all 2018-19 numbers have been recorded as of Oct. 27, 2019
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