VENTURA, California – District Attorney Gregory D. Totten announced today that for the tenth consecutive year, the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office was awarded a special DUI Vertical Prosecution Grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety. The $359,800 grant will fund a prosecution team dedicated to handling driving under the influence (DUI) cases from arrest through sentencing.
Funding from this grant will aid in the prosecution of both alcohol and drug-impaired driving cases including DUI-related death cases. The prosecution team will work with the California’s Traffic Safety Resource Prosecutor Program to expand knowledge and resources in the area of drug-impaired driving.
The purpose of the program is to prevent impaired driving and reduce alcohol and drug-impaired traffic deaths and injuries through aggressive prosecution. In the past year, our DUI Vertical Prosecution Team filed 420 felony and misdemeanor cases of DUI of alcohol, drugs or a combination of alcohol and drugs. Of those cases, 318 were drug or a combination of alcohol and drug DUIs. Our office filed a total of 2,470 DUI cases in the same time period.
Office of Traffic Safety Director Barbara Rooney said, “If you drink or use drugs and decide to drive, you put lives at risk.” “This funding from the OTS makes sure that those who make the choice to drive under the influence are held accountable for their actions.”
Funding for this prosecution program was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The Ventura County District Attorney’s Office is the public prosecutor for the county’s 850,000 residents. The office employs approximately 280 employees including attorneys, investigators, victim advocates, and other professional support staff who strive to seek justice, ensure public safety, and protect the rights of crime victims.
Follow the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office on Twitter @VenturaDAOffice
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