Hampton chief requests police join DUI task force

Following a rise in arrests for driving under the influence, Chief Thomas Vulakovich is asking that Hampton police join the North Hills DUI and Traffic Safety Enforcement Task Forces.

“I’m not saying they’re in the hundreds, but there has been an uptick in DUI arrests. I’m watching these things on body cams, and these people aren’t borderline — they’re simply blown out. And a lot more is starting to surface, not only with the alcohol but with the drugs. I would probably tell you about three quarters of the DUI arrests come as a result of drug usage or drugs found in their car,” Vulakovich said at the Feb. 8 Hampton Council meeting.

The North Hills DUI Task Force, which covers Allegheny County’s northern suburbs, includes police from West Deer, Indiana and O’Hara townships. Vulakovich said some recent adjustments to the program have made him want to join.

Hampton Township would have the ability to opt out of stationary checkpoints, he said. Police conduct that type of checkpoint, which is often considered to be controversial, using well-marked, stationary roadblocks for multiple hours. They close down part of the road and check drivers as they pass through the roadblock for potential intoxication.

“We would not engage in that particular activity,” Vulakovich said. “What we would engage in is overtime for officers going out on patrol in the same way they are right now as the clock ticks away. And they’re out there driving around, and they would look for intoxicated drivers based on their driving across the center lines, going through red lights, that kind of stuff.”

Vulakovich added that Hampton police will participate in these stationary checkpoints in other municipalities “because they require a lot of manpower,” but that he wouldn’t use them in Hampton.

As far as the Traffic Safety Task Force, Vulakovich said it is left to the officers’ discretion whether they write citations, and that enforcement is only on state roads such as Route 8. He said the state is looking to count the number of contacts police make, and that there isn’t a quota for traffic stops. In the past, he wasn’t totally on board with the task force because he believes the police department “shouldn’t be writing a whole lot of tickets,” he said.

“I will tell you that if this thing got out of control, I would pull us out,” Vulakovich said. “My guys do not go out there and write a whole lot of tags.”

Christopher Lochner, municipal manager, said Hampton council members’ biggest concern in the past has been the stationary checkpoints. He said they felt it was an “infringement of civil rights” to, for example, stop every vehicle driving out the Route 8 corridor at the intersection of Wildwood Road, pull them over at a gas station and ask drivers questions before they can proceed.

“This is a little bit different in the fact that, that still occurs as part of the program. We’re not asking you per se to participate in Hampton Township with that,” Lochner said. “We’re asking you to do the road patrol approach, which is basically what they’re doing now, anyway.”

Lochner said the program would also allow the township to offset the cost of paying officers overtime, because the task force is state-funded.

Council member Julie Fritsch asked whether Hampton police would stay within the township on the road patrols, or if police officers from other municipalities would come to Hampton. Vulakovich said he would have to seek clarification from the task forces.

Fritsch added that if police are seeing an increase in drivers under the influence, adding additional patrols is a matter of safety.

Council will vote Feb. 22 on whether Hampton police will join the task forces.