By Brenda Flanagan
NJ Today
We’re on a special DUI patrol, riding with Fairfield Police Deputy Chief Anthony Manna. We look for cars weaving in and out of traffic or vehicles like one barreling down Route 46 at way over the speed limit.
It takes us a couple miles to catch this guy.
“I got you doing 67 in 50 way back in Fairfield,” said Manna.
The driver explains he’s rushing to get home and Manna sees no sign of intoxication. So he lets him go with a warning.
“I don’t smell any alcohol, his movements of his hands are fine, his eyes are fine. They’re not bloodshot, they’re not watery. His speech is not slow, slurred. There’s no, any indication that he’s been drinking so, again, I can sit here and write I ticket for speeding or I can just get back out and look for another one,” said.
Fairfield got a $4,400 federal grant — part of a nationwide effort to get impaired motorists off the road around Labor Day. It’s called, “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over.” The money helps Fairfield deploy several extra officers tonight. They’re on a mission.
“Their function today — and they know it to be — is trying to protect people from drunk drivers,” said Manna. “It’s not to rack up paperwork or to stop all these cars. That’s not our mission tonight. Our mission, basically, is to try to find drunk drivers.”
We cruise past a few bars and restaurants, checking for big crowds or parties with drinkers who might try to drive home. Fairfield usually logs between 65 to 100 DUIs a year and Manna’s determined to lower that number.
“We agreed to this ride-along because we think that the public should be aware that there are aggressive police departments out here looking to stop drunk drivers,” Manna said.
Manna’s a Fairfield native with 29 years on the force. He’s seen his share of fatal accidents. In fact, alcohol played a role in 20 percent of New Jersey traffic fatalities in 2010.
“Every drunk driver we take off the road potentially is taking a bullet out of a gun,” Manna said.
It drives Manna to apply for and use state and federal grants like this one even though the Drive Sober campaign money must be spent in the weeks leading up to Labor Day — not prime time in Fairfield.
“I can’t say that we’re not gonna catch drunk drivers. I just can say that there will be more people traveling the roads of Fairfield in September and October who may be drunk,” Manna said.
He’d like more flexibility to assign DUI patrols after football games, for example, but says he doesn’t plan to set up DUI checkpoints — too many regulations. Besides, the latest phone apps alert drivers long before they get to a checkpoint.
“Those apps I guess serve a purpose. I don’t know what purpose that actually is,” Manna said. “I guess if I’m a law enforcement officer I can at least see where my guys are, if I have that app.”
Tonight, his guys stop lots of cars, but nobody’s busted for DUI. And Manna’s OK with that because the word’s out.
“We are out here looking for you. We are absolutely looking for you. And that’s our job,” he said.