COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. -- Deadbeats, it's time to pay up.
Drivers convicted of alcohol-related driving offenses in Otsego County are behind in paying their fines to local courts to the tune of $276,000, the Otsego County sheriff said.
And now Sheriff Richard Devlin Jr. -- who also serves as the county's STOP-DWI coordinator -- is focused on helping those courts get the money they are due.
"You are basically disobeying the court by not paying your fines," Devlin said, noting judges could consider putting violators behind bars if they continue to sidestep the penalties imposed at sentencing.
At least one man has been sent to jail in Otsego County for failure to pay his outstanding driving-while-intoxicated fine, the sheriff said.
The figure of $276,000 represents the combination of fines imposed by local courts since 2005 that remain delinquent. It does not include fines still owed to Oneonta City Court and Otsego County Court, Devlin said.
"There's a good chunk of change out there," the sheriff said recently in outlining his interest to the Board of Representatives' Public Safety Committee in helping the local courts collect the money.
Figures for delinquent DWI fines for Schoharie, Chenango, Delaware and Greene counties were not immediately available.
On average, about 500 people a year are arrested in Otsego County for alcohol-related driving offenses, Devlin estimated. In 2010, the total stood at 562, with state police making the largest number of arrests in the county, according to the county Stop DWI annual report.
Preliminary data compiled by the New York State STOP-DWI Association show about $11 million in fines statewide listed as unpaid to local courts.
But John Sullivan, the chairman of the association and the Erie County STOP-DWI director, said an unknown portion of that will likely never be collected because the individuals are now deceased, in prison or have moved out of state. And because of "anomalies" in the record-keeping system, some fines may be listed as entirely unpaid even if partial payment has been made, he added.
Getting violators to pay is crucial, Sullivan said, because 100 percent of the fine money collected helps New York's counties operate their STOP-DWI programs -- paying for prevention, education and enforcement programs.
"People who commit this crime should pay the fine," he said.
Despite stiffer penalties and enhanced education efforts, DWI coordinators in local counties lamented that many drivers still continue to risk the lives of others -- as well as their own -- by getting behind the wheel while they're intoxicated.
In late 2009, New York enacted Leandra's Law, which requires courts to order all drivers who have been convicted of DWI or aggravated DWI to have an ignition interlock system installed on any vehicle they operate. The law was named after Leandra Rosado, an 11-year-old girl killed in a 2009 DWI crash in New York City.
But the STOP-DWI coordinators for Schoharie and Chenango counties, Denise Minton and Janice Miles, respectively, both said some drivers have found a way to evade the interlock requirement by switching the titles of their vehicles into the names of family members or friends.
Sullivan agreed that some violators are resorting to such tactics to keep driving without the interlocks, and his association is hoping to educate judges on ways to catch red flags and "build a fact pattern" about the vehicles the offenders may be using at the time sentences are imposed.
"Generally, Leandra's Law is going pretty smoothly in New York compared to some other states where it has been implemented, Sullivan said. He said compliance with the interlock requirement is running at about 40 to 50 percent statewide.
Copyright 2011 - The Daily Star, Oneonta, N.Y.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
