NH: DWIs up 82% in Hampton; police plan crackdown
By Max Sullivan
July 18, 2019
HAMPTON — Drunken driving arrests nearly doubled in Hampton this year from 2018, leading police to bolster their efforts to catch intoxicated motorists and over-serving bars.
There were 120 people arrested for driving while intoxicated this year between Jan. 1 and June 31, an 82% increase from the 66 DWI arrests made by the department in the same period last year, according to Police Chief Richard Sawyer.
“That’s just unacceptable by any measurement,” Sawyer told selectmen in his quarterly report Monday. The spike, he said, appears to be caused by over-serving in local bars. “We’re very fortunate that we have not had a fatality here in Hampton.”
He said his department, state police and the New Hampshire Liquor Commission’s enforcement division are launching a coordinated effort to curb drunken driving, including cracking down on over-serving at bars. He said liquor enforcement officers will up their presence in Hampton’s bars to look for intoxicated patrons who need to be cut off and sent home.
“We have no choice,” Sawyer said. “We have to go deal with these licensees that are not taking care of the problem in their establishments, and hopefully we can reduce this dramatic increase we’re seeing.”
Liquor Enforcement Bureau Chief Mark Armaganian said his department has not observed an uptick in over-serving violations in Hampton, but added that doesn’t mean it isn’t happening. He said bar owners go through training with the state within 45 days of getting their liquor license, and staff are also able to undergo similar training. He said the onus is on establishments to not sell alcohol to anyone who shows signs of intoxicatation.
“Do they have a responsibility to make sure that doesn’t happen? Yes they do,” he said. “Our licensees have to be vigilant in making sure that they’re not offering, or they’re not allowing, the sale of these items to people that are showing outward symptoms (of intoxication).”
Some bar owners are concerned Sawyer’s public announcement will deter tourists from coming to Hampton Beach. Sawyer also said state police could be using sobriety checkpoints on the Seabrook side of the Underwood Memorial Bridge this summer as they have in the past.
“A public statement by the chief can’t really help tourism, I don’t think,” said Al Fleury, who owns Bernie’s Beach Bar, Wally’s Pub and the Goat. “I was so disheartened to hear him say that.”
Some bar owners said Monday’s discussion led to remarks by selectmen that unfairly painted their establishments in a bad light. Selectman Rick Griffin said he heard one bar in the area of B Street had caused complaints, and added this week he was referring to Cloud 9.
Kam Green, who owns Cloud 9 on the corner of B Street and Ocean Boulevard, believes the bar has been unfairly targeted by local officials and police and insists his staff is not “just sitting there and letting people be totally drunk.”
Tom McGuirk, who owns McGuirk’s Ocean View, said the chief was “100% correct” in his assessment of the DWI increase and believes it’s a sign the department is doing a good job. However, he questioned how applicable the statistics were to the beach bars since business in May and June was hampered by rain that kept tourists away.
Sawyer said the spike in drunken driving was seen all over town, not just at the beach. He said arrests have occurred in the winter and early spring when the beach bars weren’t even open. Hampton has the fourth-highest concentration of liquor licenses in the state, he said, and while many are at the beach, plenty are on Route 1 as well.
“Hampton isn’t just the beach,” Sawyer said. “It’s not a beach problem. It’s a community problem, and we need to address it.”