After a little more than a year of packaged alcohol sales in Murray, the city has netted almost a million dollars in tax revenue, but has seen a bump in DUIs.
In the five years before packaged alcohol sales, DUIs fluctuated from as low as 133 to as high as 141. But 2013 saw 175 DUI arrests in Murray. That’s a 25 percent increase, year-to-year, but Murray Alcohol Beverage Control administrator Kendra Clere says that was expected.
“We have more officers on the street, obviously," Clere said. "And two, since the ABC office was formed, I’m able to put out overtime so officers can do specialized patrol. There are sometimes, for four-hour periods on weekends, that I have two or three officers out, and that’s all they’re doing. Looking for DUIs, and AIs and alcohol-related.”
AIs – alcohol intoxication arrests – increased more dramatically year-to-year from 64 in 2012 to 112 in 2013. That’s a 75 percent jump, which Clere said was high, but again, expected given the more focused effort from the Murray Police Department.
Clere presented the ABC’s quarterly report at Thursday night’s meeting of the Murray City Council’s Personnel and Finance Committee. The total amount generated for the city by alcohol sales was $946,000 in 2013.
