Officials do better job of reporting alcohol offenses

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Circuit court clerks are doing a better job of reporting felony convictions of drivers found to be using drugs or alcohol, but that's not good enough, a new state audit says.

State Auditor Claire McCaskill, in an audit of 20 circuit court clerks released Wednesday, found that 90 percent of class D felony offenses that occurred between December 2000 and May 2001 were reported to the state -- up from 64 percent in 1998.

Class D felony convictions involve drivers with prior offenses and are punishable by up to five years in prison.

Under Missouri law, clerks report convictions to the state Highway Patrol, which then provides them to the Revenue Department, which maintains Missouri driving records.

McCaskill's office said it is concerned that 10 percent of cases had not been reported, which makes it more difficult for law enforcement to crack down on repeat offenders.

"As a result, the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the Department of Revenue records did not accurately show violations that would have allowed appropriate enforcement action for repeat offenders," the audit said.

Good, bad news

McCaskill said the audit was a "good news, bad news" report.

"The good news is it's an improvement, the bad news is it should be perfect," McCaskill said.

The audit found that seven of the 20 counties surveyed did not report 100 percent of convictions to the state. They were Butler, Cooper, Daviess, Moniteau, Ste. Genevieve, Stone and Sullivan counties.

Butler, Daviess, Moniteau, Ste. Genevieve and Sullivan counties all failed to report one felony conviction to the state while Cooper County had the worst reporting record, failing to notify the state of five of its 16 felony convictions.

St. Louis County reported all 94 felony convictions to the state during the audit period. Others who reported all convictions were Dade, Dunklin, Iron, Lawrence, Lewis, Lincoln, Newton, Pemiscot and Ripley counties.

"This isn't like a typographical error that doesn't have meaning," McCaskill said. "This is the difference between having a person creating the danger of driving an automobile illegally and one who is driving legally."

The audit said that improved reporting procedures were due to increased training and implementation of the automated court system. Further improvement is expected when automation is completed in five years, the audit said.

Until then, the audit said "circuit clerks should be reminded of their responsibilities to report the convictions in an effort to get the compliance rate higher than 90 percent."

The audit recommended that letters be sent to the clerks advising them of the reporting requirements.