STATE PATROLMAN THIRD IN DWI ARRESTS

Blaine Adams found out about his DWI record by accident.

He was instructing a class of new recruits at the Missouri Highway Patrol Academy in Jefferson City in August when another instructor asked him if he had seen his arrest record. He said he hadn't. A month later, he got a list in the mail showing he ranked third in the state, with 691 arrests over 12 years."By now, it's well over 700," said Adams, a trooper with the state Highway Patrol.

Only two troopers have more DWI arrests in their careers than Adams. Larry Byndom had 10,099 through September after 22 years on the roads around St. Louis, while Rick Fletcher totaled 783 in Kansas City. Adams made all his arrests in less densely populated Southeast Missouri. It all depends on where you work, he said.

When Adams started out as a trooper, he operated in and around Portageville. He still recalls one night where he made five arrests."I don't do this for the numbers," Adams said. "I do this because drunk drivers kill people."Douglas McDaniel, another trooper in Southeast Missouri, has garnered statewide recognition for his DWI arrests, too, although he has only been at it five years. During the last three years he has received honorary awards from Mothers Against Drunk Driving and others on his way to making 350 career arrests. Catching drunk drivers is a game of chance, McDaniel said."A lot of luck has to be involved," he said. "It's knowing where to work and where to be to get the luck to come to you."The Mississippi River bridge is one such place, Adams said. "It's a proven fact," he said. "There is one way back from the (Purple) Crackle, and it's across that bridge. From there you've got people going back to Perryville, Benton, Sikeston and places all over. But at the bridge they're funneled down so that you can get them before they get too far away."Places with high unemployment, like Pemiscot County, also produce more drunk drivers, Adams said.

In some cases, higher populations can make it harder to arrest drunk drivers, he said. The patrol responds to a greater variety of calls, leaving less road time."The lower the population, the more time there is for proactive stuff," Adams said.

Too many other calls come up in the counties of Cape Girardeau, Scott and Bollinger to be able to catch all the drunk drivers, he said. "Even with a full zone of troopers working, no one could get 102 arrests in a year here like I did in Stoddard County," Adams said.

The night of the week makes a difference, too, McDaniel said. It starts on Thursday and runs through Saturday."A lot of places have ladies' nights on Thursdays, when ladies drink free," McDaniel said. "Obviously you get a lot of guys out drinking."Picking out a drunk driver on the road is seldom subtle, he said. Troopers see someone swerving, weaving or crossing the center line and 80 percent of the time, the driver's drunk, he said.

Adams simply stops a lot of cars, he said. He will see an equipment violation or something else, and pull the driver over."Then people say, You didn't stop me because I was driving bad,' " Adams said. "I'm not going to wait for someone to start driving bad."Recently Adams stopped a driver near William Street and Mount Auburn Road whose plastic-covered license plate had fogged up. After smelling alcohol, Adams checked the driver's blood-alcohol level with a portable breath tester. He blew a 1.07, well above the 1.0 blood-alcohol level that makes driving illegal, Adams said."The more cars you stop, the better your chances," he said.

It's impossible to come up with a profile of the average drunk driver, McDaniel said. Still, when he instructs new troopers at the Highway Patrol Academy, it's their most common question."I couldn't put a face on it," McDaniel said. "It's everybody. You even have a lot of younger kids, who aren't experienced with alcohol and get behind the wheel. So it's not just those 21 and over."The prime times for drunks on the roads is between 5 and 7 p.m., and again from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m., he said. Nevertheless, McDaniel has made DWI arrests at every hour of the day.

No special skill is involved in making a DWI arrest, Adams said, so when he sees that the average state trooper makes about seven DWI arrests a year, he is surprised."It seems like some guys just don't want to make the arrests," he said. "I don't know if it's the paperwork involved with making the arrest or what. But once you start doing it regularly, the paperwork is a breeze."If troopers just stop more cars, DWI arrests will come, Adams said."There are just a lot out there to be arrested," he said.