Across the United States, some jurisdictions take DUIs much more seriously than others. While one county may take pains to prosecute every illegal driver under the influence of alcohol, other locations just let these offenders go. Recently, Michigan residents at MLive decided to research DUI prosecution across their state and determine which locations have the best and worst rankings when it comes to enforcement. In Michigan alone, the differences are staggering. MLive learned that urban communities tend to arrest less drink drivers, because more serious crimes demand the police’s attention. Smaller communities often have the highest DUI rates in a state. For example, in Michigan, the Grand Blanc Township has 40 officers. Those vigilant law enforcement workers were able to arrest more than four times the amount of drunk drivers as the 112 officers in Flint. The 13 officers who work in Utica also arrested about three times as many offenders.

Throughout the state, the DUI rates are slowly falling. This is because the amount of road patrols on Michigan highways is slowly falling as the law enforcement tries to cut costs and abide by a smaller budget. Since 2001, one in every six officers has been eliminated from the force. In the past two and a half years, MLive reports that Michigan has lost about half of the officers who work in the state’s two largest cities, Detroit and Grand Rapids. This means that they have lost about $1,700 employees in that time. Bob Stevenson, the executive director of the Michigan Association of Police Chiefs says that he is concerned about the lack of highway patrol in the state. He says that if a person is going to be killed in the state of Michigan, chances are that it will be on the road as opposed to in a crime.

While he may have a point, the state puts precedent on the 911 calls that flood the emergency call center every day. The police would quickly respond to a 911 call reporting a crime, while they may not have time to look out for swerving drivers on the road. That is, until the 911 call is to report a DUI accident. While the amount of other crime to fight may be a component in how DUIs are dealt with, the fact is that some cities put more of an emphasis on DUI enforcement. One lawyer in Birmingham says that the police in this city have chosen to focus in on DUIs, and it brings on a large amount of cases every month.

When MLive completed their investigative report, they decided to compare the arrest rates in two cities. They focused on East Lansing and Ann Arbor, and were shocked at the results. In total, they found that the state police arrested more than 275,000 drunk drivers since 2006. Yet some cities contributed to that number more than others. In East Lansing, the police arrested six times as many drunk drivers as those in Ann Arbor. The DUI arrests in East Lansing have risen 44 percent since 2006, while they fell 33 percent in Ann Arbor. East Lansing is ranked number one in most arrests, while Ann Arbor was 47^th.

Before we blame the police for laziness, it’s important to note that the Ann Arbor police force was drastically reduced. The city has more than twice the residents of East Lansing, and was reduced to only 54 officers this year. Do some research to discover if you live in a high or low DUI city. By getting the right DUI defense attorney, you may be able to avoid charges and get out of your DUI trial with reduced sentences!