STOP-DWI Program Areas

Based on data gathered as well as public documents, it is evident that STOP-DWI is heavily invested in the General Deterrence Model for impaired-driving control and prevention. There are specific deterrence countermeasures used by the local courts and probation program, however, these are directed to serious and repeat DWI offenders.

The STOP-DWI Law provides flexibility in terms of countermeasure development at the local level, although the six core program areas have not changed since 1982. As depicted in Figures 7 and 8, the majority of program budgets are dedicated to enforcement activities for the control and prevention of impaired driving. Based on current county plan and budget data, each county’s largest proportion of resources is described by program area in Table 6. The majority (60%) of counties dedicate the most resources to enforcement activities.

Table 6. Proportion of Resources by Program Area.

Note: There is variation in how counties allocate funds, based on organizational location of the STOP-DWI program, and current county/program priorities and activities. In addition, the distribution of funds may also vary by the activities of the coordinator and their salary may be distributed among two or more program areas (e.g., serving in an administrative capacity and as public education and information coordinator).

Other Personnel Funded by STOP-DWI

Within the program areas, the county budgets can fund salaries and fringe benefits of personnel, in addition to administrative personnel, that work on impaired-driving control and prevention activities. County STOP-DWI plans describe these allocations of program resources as follows:

• Enforcement (in addition to DWI patrols) – dedicated full- or part-time law enforcement officers and/or staff at the city, county levels (93%);
  
  
• Court-related – full- or part-time DWI prosecutor and/or staff (85%);
  
  
• Probation – full- or part-time probation officer or case manager and/or staff (78%);
  
  
• Rehabilitation – full- or part-time counselor, social worker, case workers, and/or staff or referrals for contracted counseling (71%); and,
  
  
• Public Information and Education – part-time coordinator or contractor (29%).

Assignment of resources varies; however, some counties report having full-time DWI prosecutors that form units or several full-time employees in a particular program area.

Other specific examples of personnel include resident deputy dedicated to STOP-DWI, forensic chemist, executive secretary, and grant seeker, community educator, and youth officer. Specific details about how salary for the coordinator or other FTE is not available for this analysis. Note: In some cases the STOP-DWI coordinator’s salary may be distributed among two or more program areas (e.g., serving in an administrative capacity and as public education and information coordinator). More detail about specific activities performed by these personnel will be described in Section IV.

STOP-DWI Data and Data Systems, Outcome Measures

The New York DMV compiles DWI, DWAI arrest and conviction data, and budget data. Annual STOP-DWI program reports require arrest, disposition, fine, and contemplated program resource distribution in addition to the data needed for the DMV. The DMV periodically reports these and other transportation safety and system data collected at the State level, such as crash fatalities and number of licensed drivers. The data that are most current are those that drive the funding mechanism, large DWI/DWAI and associated budget data. The New York DMV and the Department of Transportation are working to improve crash data collection through construction of a more integrated data system. The DMV is in the process of statewide revision and upgrade of its data systems, based on Federal initiatives from agencies such as the FMCSA, FHWA, and NHTSA. Major traffic safety data initiatives include electronic crash reporting, electronic reporting of progress on countermeasures (e.g., child safety seat distribution), electronic ticketing, and the availability of county level data on the World Wide Web, including motor vehicle crashes, transportation and criminal justice data, derived from both the New York DMV and the New York Department of Justice. State and local data differ from NHTSA data, particularly in the area of alcohol-related crashes where national data rely on methods such as multiple imputation to fill in gaps.