Imperial County district attorney’s specialized DUI prosecution team awarded grant
IMPERIAL COUNTY, Calif. (KYMA, KECY) - The Imperial County District Attorney received a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety to support a specialized prosecution team that handles alcohol- and drug-impaired driving cases.
The specialized prosecution team will also partner with the statewide Traffic Safety Resource Prosecutor Training Program and helptrain other prosecutors and investigators and collaborate with law enforcement agencies on practices for handling and managing driving under the influence (DUI) cases.
The district attorney says it got $200,000 from the office.
The DA says many fatal car crashes in the Imperial Valley are due to people driving under the influence.
This money will help them build stronger cases.
"Another important aspect of this grant is because I can have one prosecutor assigned to this. He can also be an expert to the California Highway Patrol or law enforcement if they have questions regarding DUI cases so he provides training for them...which strengthens our cases," said George Marquez, District Attorney.
The D.A's office says the prosecution team filed more than 700 DUI cases in the Imperial Valley last year, and that includes 60 DUI drug cases and 11 DUI combined alcohol and drug cases.
