Saturday evening, May 30, 2015, Sacramento Police Officer Curtis Gates was recognized as the Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD) California Hero for his impaired driver enforcement and educational programs in 2014. Officer Gates had 115 impaired driver arrests for 2014. This included drivers under the influence of alcohol, drugs, or a combination of both. Officer Gates is also one of the department’s certified DRE (Drug Recognition Expert) and Standardized Field Sobriety Test instructors; in addition to his work on several educational programs for both DUI prevention and pedestrian safety. Officer Gates is currently a field training officer and continues to train our new officers in impaired driver enforcement.

The Sacramento Police Department had an additional 6 officers recognized in a local MADD awards ceremony on April 23^th, 2015. The following officers were recognized for arresting 25 or more impaired drivers in an effort to keep our roadways safe. Officers Daniel Morlan, Tim Davis and Curtis Gates all had over 100 impaired driver arrests. Officer Amber Hawley had over 60 arrests and Detective Jim Conner, Officer Krista Koppinger and Officer Lilia Vasquez all had more than 25 impaired driver arrests. All combined, these 7 officers took almost 500 impaired drivers off the roadway in 2014. Many of these officers are also involved in our Start Smart teen driver program, Pedestrian Safety operations, and the Every 15 Minutes and Live DUI Sentencing teen alcohol/DUI awareness programs.