DUI busters receive honors

POST FALLS - Jess Spike knows that making DUI stops can come with a price.

The Idaho State Police trooper's patrol car has been struck three times in the past four months by vehicles driven by those under the influence.

But Spike knows that combating DUI cases is important and he and other local law enforcement personnel were recognized by the Substance Abuse Council on Wednesday at the Post Falls police station for their dedication and topping their departments for such arrests in 2009.

Spike led the way with 99 arrests and was presented the "Prestigious Mumford Award," a party top hat from the sheriff's department's Kevin Mumford, who finished second with 92 and has topped the list in recent years.

"(DUIs) are something I look for a lot and come across," Spike said. "I don't want to say that I have a knack for it, but maybe they have a knack for me."

Spike and another trooper estimate that one in every five stops they make involves an impaired driver.

Spike's number of DUI arrests are believed to be the highest in the area since ISP Trooper Paul Burke topped 100 several years ago.

It's not that Spike, who has been with ISP for two and a half years, necessarily enjoys making DUI arrests. The entire process, including conducting the tests, transporting violators to jail and writing the report, takes about four hours. Spike said he has made as many as three DUI arrests in a shift.

"It's really a thankless job," he said. "You go to court more than anybody else, and it's usually on your day off. You get in crashes and you get called into the lieutenant's office a lot. You get called every profanity under the sun."

But it's a job Spike says needs to happen.

"It seems like the more drunks you take to jail, the more you find," he said. "It's an almost unlimited business. But I figure if I can even prevent one fatality, it's worth it."

Others who topped their department for DUI arrests included:

n Spencer Mortenson, Coeur d'Alene, 90;

n Chris Thompson, Post Falls, 63;

n Jeff Jobes, Rathdrum, 28;

n Bob Aragon, Spirit Lake, 23; and

n Jason Robinson, Coeur d'Alene Tribal Police, 19.

The total number of arrests from the seven honored was 414, a record since the council started the recognition ceremony 12 years ago.

Clark Rollins of ISP believes the dedication of the group and others on patrol for DUIs is among the reasons that there hasn't been a fatality involving an impaired driver in the five northern counties this year.

"These guys have been proactive about saving lives," said Rollins, adding that the last such fatality was on Dec. 15. "We've never gone that long without a fatality."