Those arrested for DUI in Calaveras County, especially repeat offenders and those involved in fatal or injury crashes, can expect to face highly trained, specialized prosecutors, thanks to a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety. The $174,310.00 grant to the Calaveras County District Attorney’s Office will fund a Vertical Prosecution team that will work cases from arrest through sentencing.
“I am so pleased that the Calaveras County District Attorney’s Office has, once again, been awarded this competitive grant from the Office of Traffic Safety. In addition to providing resources to aggressively pursue DUIs more efficiently and build our expertise in drug related DUIs, this generous grant from the Office of Traffic Safety has given us the ability to be proactive in fighting crime,” said District Attorney Barbara Yook. “During this second year of the grant, our specialized “RID” (Reduce Impaired Driving) team will continue developing its innovative approach to educating the public, and especially our youth, on the dangers of impaired driving. We are grateful to the County Office of Education, each individual school district in the County, Mark Twain Medical Center, the CHP, the Sheriff’s Office, and the Angels Camp Police Department for joining us in our efforts to prevent tragedies by reducing impaired driving,” said Yook.
The purpose of the program is to prevent impaired driving and reduce alcohol and drug-impaired traffic fatalities and injuries. The specialized prosecution team will handle cases throughout each step of the criminal process, prosecuting both alcohol and drug-impaired driving cases. In fatal and major injury DUI vehicle collisions, members of the team may even start by going to the crash scene to be part of the investigation.
Prosecution team members will work with the State’s Traffic Safety Resource Prosecutor Program to increase the capabilities of the team and the office by obtaining and delivering specialized training, including training in the emerging problem of drug-impaired driving. Team members will share information with peers and law enforcement personnel throughout the county and across the state.
Funding for the program comes from a grant by the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
