Oak Lawn Leads South Suburbs in DUI Arrests for 2013

According to an annual survey, Oak Lawn landed in the top ten Illinois municipalities for DUI arrests in 2013.

Oak Lawn police officers logged 262 arrests for motorists driving under the influence, a 6.5-percent increase over 2012, when 246 arrests were made.

The data comes from the Alliance Against Intoxicated Motorists’ annual Illinois DUI arrest survey. AAIM has conducted the survey since 1990 to determine how many DUI arrests are made by law enforcement agencies across the state, and to recognize the most productive departments and police officers in the fight against drunk driving.

Nearly 700 police agencies were surveyed, with 84-percent responding. Illinois police departments landing on the top ten DUI arrest list for 2013 include:

1. Rockford - 556

2. Naperville - 553

3. Decatur - 485

4. Springfield - 410

5. Carol Stream - 392

6. Elmhurst - 300

7. Normal - 279

8. Rock Island - 274

9. Oak Lawn - 262

10. Aurora - 256

Elsewhere in the south suburbs, Chicago Heights showed the biggest jump in DUI arrests with 247 in 2013, a 63-percent increase over the 151 arrests logged in 2012.

Orland Park’s arrest rate for motorists driving under the influence fell 7.6 percent, with 218 arrests in 2013, compared to the year before when Orland Park police logged 236 arrests.

The south suburban police departments in the Patch network that responded to the 2013 survey ranked as followed:

#11 - Chicago Heights - 247

#17 - Orland Park - 218

#36 - New Lenox - 151

#41 - Palos Heights - 135

#50 - Romeoville - 118

#53 - Joliet - 113

#58 - Plainfield - 102

#66 - Homewood - 88

#69 - Tinley Park - 83

#74 - Lemont - 76

#90 - Oak Forest - 58

#112 - Flossmoor - 36

#119 - Palos Hills - 29

#124 - Evergreen Park - 24

#125 - Palos Park - 23

#133 - Orland Hills - 15

Chicago Police’s DUI arrest rate decreased by 10.5 percent in 2013 (3,395) compared to 2012 (3,795). Illinois State Police upped its arrests by 28.8 percent in 2013 (9,302) compared to 2012 (7,220).

The sheriff’s department reporting the most DUI arrests was Lake County (348), followed by Cook (306), Winnebago (295), Will (262) and DuPage (245), rounding out the top five.

AAIM is an Illinois-only citizen activist group founded in 1982 by victims of drunk driving. The group promotes prevention, victim advocacy and legislation for tougher drunk driving laws and is a recognized expert in this area.

AAIM’s annual DUI arrest survey is funded by a grant from the Illinois Department of Transportation.

Read the complete 2013 DUI arrest survey results.

See the top 2013 departments with 200+ DUI arrests.