THE IMPACT OF COVID
Below, we share findings from our conversations with local stakeholders, with some of our own observations included based on our court monitoring work.
Law Enforcement Shortages
During the peak of COVID, many law enforcement agencies across South Carolina reported an average of a 20% reduction in staff. This heavily affected DUI enforcement, especially in smaller municipalities. In several instances, officers would have to cover other areas and had no time for proactive DUI enforcement. This would include the inability to hold traffic safety checkpoints, and the inability to participate in multi-jurisdictional joint efforts that have high visibility. With increasing turnover rates, the amount of experienced law enforcement officers is decreasing. This causes a heavy impact, especially on DUIs, because these cases are some of the most difficult to enforce correctly and prosecute. We are frequently told about how even strong DUI officers began by making many mistakes. With newer officers writing more DUIs, they may not have the extensive training and experience that could lead to more prosecutable cases. Our stakeholders also talked about how these shortages expanded into the correctional facilities. This causes an additional problem as to how offenders are being booked, held, and sentenced once law enforcement is able to make a case and arrest.
Prevalence of Impaired Driving
At the time of our 2021 stakeholder roundtables, we did not have the newest data points included above. However, at that time the officers did perceive an increased in impaired driving during the pandemic, which we now can confirm. Again, this was in spite of a drastic decrease in driving for many months of the year as things were shut down. They also spoke of a perceived uptick in daytime DUI arrests. Among the reasons they speculated why this could be the case included a high rate of unemployment leading to more free time, stimulus checks being spent on alcohol and drugs, and a nationwide mental health crisis caused by lockdowns and COVID quarantines. Some combination of factors has equaled a recipe for disaster on our roadways.
Jury Trials: “The best tool has been taken from us”
One of the main DUI prosecution issues caused by the COVID pandemic is the massive backlog of pending cases. Courts were closed in South Carolina for multiple periods throughout 2020 and 2021 due to COVID restrictions and lockdowns. Some courts in South Carolina did not resume normal traffic court until early in 2022. This has led to a backlog of thousands of cases and a jury trial roster nightmare.
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