(By Michael Heinz/Journal & Courier) West Lafayette police officer Stason Wiete (foreground) and other area police officers listen during a ceremony Wednesday honoring officers with the most operating while intoxicated arrests. Wiete led the county with 59 OWI arrests in 2006.

By Joe Larson
jlarson@journalandcourier.com

Dan Towery wasn't quite sure what to think of the numbers.

The fact that Tippecanoe County law enforcement officers made 1,101 drunken driving arrests in 2006 means the officers remained vigilant. It also means the public continued to drink and drive.

Officers in Tippecanoe County were honored Tuesday at the 2006 Top Cop Awards for drunken driving arrests made last year.

Towery of the MADD West Central Indiana Chapter gave out the awards in Lafayette City Hall.

"It was eight years ago today that my daughter, Sarah, and her boyfriend, Chip, were killed by a drunk driver," he said.

This year, awards went to all officers with 20 or more operating while intoxicated arrests or to the top officer in a department if no one met that amount.

In the past, only the top officer in each department received an award.

Stason Wiete of the West Lafayette Police Department had the most OWI arrests in 2006 with 59. Robert Hainje of the Tippecanoe County Sheriff's Department was a close second with 56.

"Make sure you have a designated driver," said Andrew Cree of the Tippecanoe County Sheriff's Department, who made 20 OWI arrests this year. "It's the easiest arrest to avoid."

Four Tippecanoe County residents died as a result of drunken drivers in 2006, according to a printout distributed by MADD.

Just as sobering was the surge in public intoxication arrests -- to 1,342.

"That's significantly more than last year," Towery said. He was unsure of the exact total from the previous year.

While 1,101 people were made for drunken driving in 2006, each of those individuals probably drove while impaired between 80 and 200 times before getting caught, Towery said.

Some drunken drivers don't get caught until it's too late.

"Last year alone," Cree said, "we took a number of OWIs through crashes."