DUI ARRESTS CLIMB AS OFFICIALS GET TOUGH.

Byline: Stacy Brown Daily News Staff Writer

The city might be one of the safest in the nation when it comes to violent crime, but Santa Clarita drivers have reason to be afraid.

As of last Friday, 761 drunk driving suspects had been arrested this year, more than any other city served by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. Locally, 754 drunk drivers were arrested in all of 1996.

That's an average of more than 17 a week, more than two each night - and the holiday season is on the horizon.

Santa Clarita doesn't necessarily have more drunks on its roads. The high number of arrests likely is due to the Santa Clarita Valley sheriff's station's effort to arrest suspected drunks, said Sgt. Steve Mulcahy.

Nevertheless, the city is kicking off an anti-drunk driving advertising campaign to run through the holidays, Santa Clarita spokeswoman Gail Ortiz said. One ad, titled ``The Class of 2000'' shows youths who would have graduated high school to begin the new century but were killed by drunk drivers.

``Santa Clarita has a 40 percent youth population, so we will have ads on MTV, ESPN2 and other channels which kids like to watch,'' Ortiz said. ``Hopefully, people will think twice about drinking and driving.''

City records show that drivers from 18 to 25 have the highest rate of drunk-driving arrests. In response, the community created the Safe Rides program, which provides free rides home Friday and Saturday nights to teens who have been drinking or who are with other youths who have been drinking, Ortiz said. The service is available from 10 p.m. to 2 p.m. by calling [phone].

The sheriff's station is aggressively training deputies to spot violators and is organizing programs to educate the community on the dangers of drinking and driving.

Mulcahy said deputies undergo drug and alcohol recognition training six times a year. In the city, 21 patrol cars are assigned to nab drunks. The training teaches deputies what to look for.

``It not only talks about the common things like a drunk driver weaving from side to side, but it goes into other areas such as when a car doesn't have its headlights on at night,'' Mulcahy said.

Periodic checkpoints also are conducted by deputies as well as the California Highway Patrol.

``During the checkpoint that we do at least once a month, about 1,300 cars pass through, and we are able to further monitor drunk driving,'' Mulcahy said.

While arrests are high, Mulcahy said he doesn't believe Santa Clarita is any worse than other areas.

``The station may have more arrests than any other stations in the department, but I don't know if we have more drunk drivers,'' he said.

The monthly checkpoints not only allow deputies to find someone who may be driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, but officers use that opportunity to educate motorists, Mulcahy said.

``We pass out pamphlets and other literature (during the stop) showing what could happen when you drive under the influence. So by having the checkpoint, it allows us to contact more than 1,000 people each month and educate them,'' Mulcahy said.

Also, in a measure to try to prevent youths from succumbing to peer pressure, Ortiz said the city sponsors the sheriff's SANE program. Children in grades 4 to 6 receive special education from deputies about the dangers of drinking and driving. As part of the program, deputies speak to classrooms and to individual youngsters.

``They know the deputies by name,'' Ortiz said. She said the program costs the city about $500,000 a year, and officials are looking into expanding it to children in higher grades as well.

Mulcahy said because Santa Clarita has a high number of DUI arrests, the sheriff's station has placed a lot of emphasis on removing drunk drivers from the streets.

``A lot of times when people drink, they think they can drive better, but they lose the ability to make proper judgment, so we are doing everything we can to catch drunk drivers,'' Mulcahy said. An additional instrument in the war on drunk driving is the Preliminary Alcohol Screening device, which the city acquired six months ago for each patrol car.

The device, a breath test, registers an individual's blood-alcohol level on the spot.

``If a person is questionable, meaning they didn't do too well on the balance test or they appear to be impaired, we ask them to blow into the machine,'' Mulcahy said.