The El Paso Police Department's new long-term strategy to reduce drunken driving will be "a citywide, all-hands approach" involving education, prevention and enforcement, police leaders said.
"We are not going to arrest our way out of this," Police Chief Peter Pacillas said at a community meeting. "We need to change the drinking culture in the city of El Paso."
Pacillas presented the "El Paso Safe Streets Strategy" to residents on Sept. 3 at a public safety community meeting hosted by East Side city Rep. Ivan Niño at the EPPD Upper East Side Regional Command Center.
The meeting was attended by about 25 residents, who also aired concerns about speeding, the need for more police patrols, hit-and-run crashes,
and downed light poles on Zaragoza Road, where Niño said 23 poles were knocked down in a year.
The impact of motorists getting behind the wheel drunk was shared during the meeting.
The grief of losing a child in a traffic collision involving a suspected intoxicated driver is a pain that no other families should endure, said Lupe Hernandez Lucero, whose son's "life was stolen by a repeat offender."
Hernandez's son, Steven Anthony Hernandez, 28, was a passenger in a car hit by a suspected repeat DWI driver who allegedly ran a red light in the far East Side on May 21, 2023. The defendant, Valeria Mena, faces murder and intoxication manslaughter charges in a case scheduled to go to trial in October.
Hernandez and other El Paso parents who lost children in DWI-related crashes founded the Sober Streets Movement in October 2023.
"We don't want more victims," Hernandez said. "You don't want to be in our shoes."
El Paso's new anti-DWI initiative
The city's new anti-DWI strategy is a good step forward because it brings various groups together, said Hernandez, but more needs to be done at the state legislative level, including approving DWI checkpoints in Texas and tougher punishments for impaired driving.
A first-offense DWI is a Class B misdemeanor punishable by up to 180 days in jail and a $2,000 fine.
The anti-DWI strategy was unveiled at the El Paso City Council meeting on Sept. 1 as part of a process that began with a deeper, statistical look at impaired driving, which residents and elected leaders describe as one of the city's top public safety issues.
There were more than 500 alcohol-related crashes in El Paso each year from 2023 to 2025, and 35% of all fatalities have been alcohol-related since 2023, according to the El Paso Police Department overviewof driving-while-intoxicated cases.
The anti-DWI plan is a long-term initiative that will include public outreach and education, revitalizing Neighborhood Watch programs, working with bars, restaurants, civic groups and government agencies as well as law enforcement efforts, Executive Assistant Chief Zina Silva said in her presentations of the strategy.
"We’re not saying you shouldn’t drink. We're just saying that drinking and driving don't go together," Silva said.
The outreach will focus on men ages 25-34, who EPPD research found made up the majority of DWI suspects, Silva said. About 90% of all DWI offenders are first-time offenders.
The campaign will also encourage drivers to obey speed limits since statistics show speeding is the top factor in all traffic fatalities and crashes, Silva said. "Easy on the throttle. Skip the bottle," will be one of the safety campaign's slogans.
The data showed the most common DWI-crash hotspots were:
- I-10 near Downtown and between Yarbrough Drive and Lee Trevino Drive.
- Downtown near Stanton Street.
- Five Points, along Piedras Street between I-10 and Tularosa Avenue in the Central area.
- Zaragoza Road corridor, near I-10 and between Montwood Drive and Sun Fire Boulevard in the far East Side.
DWI arrests rise, dozens arrested Labor Day weekend
There were 53 DWI arrests in the El Paso area over the Labor Day weekend, Sept. 4-6, as the result of a coordinated enforcement operation by the Texas Department of Public Safety, El Paso police and the El Paso County Sheriff's Office, Texas DPS spokesman Sgt. Eliot Torres said in an email.
El Paso police are making more DWI arrests, which are on pace to increase 28% by year's end and issuing more speeding citations, which are projected to increase 34%, according to police numbers.
The long-term initiative's goal is not to make more arrests or issue more citations but to prevent crashes, save lives and make El Paso streets safer, Silva said, adding there are no new resources being added.
The anti-DWI initiative will be led by Cmdr. Jason D. Johnson of the Pebble Hills Regional Command, who is assigned along with eight lieutenants and their staff, Silva said. An update on the project will be provided in 90 days.
'Law enforcement cannot solve this problem alone'
Niño, who represents the far East Side, said impaired driving is a concern across El Paso. Each DWI crash is not just a statistic, but a person and a family impacted: parents who never made it home, parents who lost a child and survivors whose lives are permanently changed, Niño said.
"The city of El Paso and our law enforcement cannot solve this problem alone," Niño said.
El Paso has expanded and demands on police have increased, but staffing numbers had been stagnant because of recruiting challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic and George Floyd protest movement of 2020, Pacillas said at the meeting.
The El Paso Police Department currently has 1,135 officers compared to the 1,000 officers the department had 30 years ago in 1996, Pacillas said. A new police academy class will start this month.
There needs to be a mindset change regarding drinking and driving, Pacillas said, explaining that in some cases people who have been drinking are making the decision to drive their car home rather than getting a ride because they don’t want to leave their car where they parked.
"As a human being, what does that say? It says property is more important than a life, that’s what it's saying. What we need to do is change the culture of drinking," the chief said.
Daniel Borunda may be reached at dborunda@elpasotimes.com and @BorundaDaniel on X.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: New anti-DWI strategy seeks to change El Paso 'drinking culture'
