The City of Miami Beach is reporting a substantial decrease in the number of DUI arrests during 2015.
For a city that once had over 1500 DUI arrests per year, Miami Beach only logged 138 DUI arrests in 2015.
While this can be attributed to the rise of ride-sharing services such as Uber and Lyft, many Miami DUI attorneys believe that the real reason for the drop in DUI arrests is the Back On Track program, which enables some qualified first-time DUI offenders to take classes and perform community service hours in exchange for a reduced charge without a conviction.
With Back On Track, less cases are going to trial, which means that the officers have no incentive to make the arrest. Officers are paid overtime for appearing in court.
While the numbers may show that DUI arrests are down, these figures certainly don't reflect that impaired driving itself is on the decline. Simply the law enforcement efforts at curtailing it are.
Eric Matheny is a Miami DUI lawyer and Broward DUI lawyer.