Arrests related to driving under the influence have been keeping the Bellingham Police Department busy in January.
At least 46 people had been arrested for DUIs in January in city limits, according to the BPD crime statistics log. Last year in January, 29 people were arrested — a 58% increase.
Claudia Murphy, a lieutenant in the patrol division, said there are a couple of reasons for the rise in arrests.
“I do think that the mild weather has had some effect because there’s not been a ton of snow or ice keeping people in,” she said.
BPD has also hired more officers recently focused on patrol and investigations, Murphy said. The new year also presents officers with opportunities to lay out goals, including training, as part of recent shift changes.
“We have a group of officers who are really working hard to hone their skills with DUIs because they want to participate in the high-visibility emphasis patrols,” she said. Those kinds of patrols place extra officers on the road for a certain amount of time to patrol for DUIs.
DUI arrests, when an officer has reason to believe a person is under the influence of alcohol, illicit or prescription drugs while driving, were also high in March and July of last year. BPD recorded 50 arrests in March 2024 and 55 arrests in July 2024.
“There were probably high-visibility emphasis patrols that were done in both those months,” Murphy explained. “One for July the Fourth and the other for St. Paddy’s Day.”
The 55 arrests in July were the most DUI arrests BPD has made in a single month since 2019.
BPD made 400 DUI arrests in 2024, according to the online crime statistics dashboard.
On average between 2019 and 2024, BPD made about 28 DUI arrests per month when accounting for the influence the COVID-19 pandemic had on arrests, Murphy said.
Murphy added that she’s heard anecdotally that recently more DUI arrests are happening in the daytime as officers come across drivers who are impaired because of taking narcotics that makes them sleepy.
“The scary ones to me are very much those who are passing out while the light is red,” she said. “I fear that with people driving around impaired during the day, we have school zones that are active, we have many more pedestrians and many more bicyclists. If your body is not in tune to be able to respond to those things immediately, then it bears noting that we are going to have more crashes.”
Murphy reminded people to make plans ahead of going out to drink to find a sober driver, take a rideshare, taxi or walk.
“It’s not about arresting as many DUIs as we can,” she said. “It’s about ensuring that people are the safest on the road, and the way to ensure that is to have people not drink and drive.”
At least two people were arrested for DUIs on Saturday, Feb. 1, according to the online crime statistics dashboard.
Annie Todd is CDN’s criminal justice/enterprise reporter; reach her at annietodd@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 130.
