By Eileen Buckley
Buffalo, NY – Buffalo Police will be setting up DWI sobriety checkpoints across the city starting this weekend. The city has not held such checks in three years, but now plans to crack down on drunk drivers twice a month.
Jim Alfieri is co-owner of the Crocodile Bar on Chippewa and president of the Chippewa Entertainment District Association. He says bar business dropped "significantly" in January when the police union threatened to set up DWI checks as part of a job action.
Now Alfieri fears these new checkpoints could hurt business even further. Still, Alfieri says most bar owners would support the efforts if the department truly targets the entire city.
"As long as we are not singled out and the checks are put out throughout the city and in all the districts, I think they will be supportive of it," Alfieri said.
Buffalo Police Chief of Patrol Lawrence Ramunno says he thinks most bar owners are sympathetic to what they are trying to accomplish.
"They also discourage people from driving while intoxicated. I think they are behind us on this," Ramunno said. "I think they promote the idea of designated drivers and are in favor of taking a cab home.
"They know if something were to happened and someone left their establishment and a lawyer gets a hold of it, they might be held liable."
Alfieri says the Crocodile Bar is involved with the "go safe" program sponsored by Erie County.
Buffalo police will set up the DWI checkpoints twice a month on the weekends from 9 pm to 4 am.
The department was recently criticized for its lack of DWI arrests in the city, but Ramunno says it's been a manpower problem due to 100 police layoffs last year.
Ramunno would not establish any arrest quotas for these checkpoints. But he says ideally if the department makes five to six DWI arrests a weekend, it would make a big difference in keeping drunk drivers off the roads.