Daily Sun staff
The Gage County Attorney’s Office has applied for a grant from the Nebraska Office of Highway Safety seeking three years of financial support to allow the office to hire an additional attorney to focus on prosecuting alcohol-related crimes.
“Our office has been very aggressive in prosecuting alcohol-related offenses,” County Attorney Randall Ritnour said.
“If I’m presented with a case, I’m going to prosecute it as long as it meets statutory criteria. The issue is community safety.”
The primary focus of the proposed special prosecutor for alcohol-related crimes position would be prosecution of driving under the influence, minor in possession, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and procuring alcohol for a minor.
According to county statistics, the number of alcohol-related offenses prosecuted in the county attorney’s office has increased sharply since Ritnour took office in January 2007.
The number of DUI prosecutions doubled from 91 in 2006 to 182 in 2007. As of this month, 120 DUI cases have been filed in Gage County for 2008, while the county is on track to have a total of 240-250 DUI cases this year.
The office also prosecuted 135 minor in possession cases in 2007.
The number of DUI arrests throughout the county also doubled from 2006 to 2007, from 86 to 170.
In addition, the number of Gage County Communications Center DUI calls for service increased from 139 in 2006 to 186 in 2007, while the number of alcohol-related crashes increased from 10 in 2006 to 19 in 2007, alcohol-related fatalities increased from one in 2006 to two in 2007 and injuries from alcohol-related crashes increased from 18 in 2006 to 28 in 2007.
Ritnour said in addition to the increased number of alcohol-related cases, the number of felony cases his office handles has tripled.
“This would allow one person to specialize in alcohol-related offenses and allow the rest of our staff to spend most of their time on other cases,” he said.
In addition, funding from the grant would support Drug Recognition Evaluation training for the special prosecutor and at least two Gage County law officers, a specialization that no one in the county currently holds.
Ritnour said this would aid in the detection, arrest and prosecution of drug-impaired driving cases. Because no one in Gage County has that certification, law enforcement officers currently have to request a DRE officer from Lancaster County to assist if they stop a driver who they suspect is driving under the influence of drugs instead of alcohol.
The total cost of the project is $46,500, with $2,500 provided through in-kind arrangements with the Gage County MAPS Coalition and the remainder from the highway safety office.
For the first year of the grant, funding would come completely from the state and in-kind services, while the county would be required to pay $10,750 for the second year, $21,500 for the third year and $43,000 for the fourth year and beyond.
Ritnour said he should know if his office has been awarded the grant by the end of the month.
The Gage County Board of Supervisors is expected to review the grant possibility in the coming weeks as the board determines the budget for the coming fiscal year.