Austin police have released a list of the top 20 bars its DWI arrestees had their last drinks at before getting pulled over.
Here’s the list in question. The following are the top 20 bars associated with DWI arrests, from January through the end of October:
1. Kung Fu 2. The Ranch 3. Dogwood Bar 4. (Tie) 219 West The W Hotel 5. (Tie) Rain on 4th Shakespeare's 6. (Tie) Key Bar Oilcan Harrys Six Lounge Star Bar 7. (Tie) J Black's The Blind Pig 8. (Tie) Ok Corral The Park at Domain 9. (Tie) Bat Bar Dirty Bills Jackalope La Movida Little Woodrows Mohawk Molotov Lounge The Rattle Inn
“I don’t want people to think that we take our Top 20 bar list and go out and bird-dog the parking lots, because we don’t do that,” APD Lt. Derek Galloway said at a press conference today.
Instead, “we hit those roadways that lead into the high-speed roadways,” Galloway said. “We’d rather catch them on the low speed roadways before they go the wrong direction on Mopac or [Interstate] 35.”
“Those feeder roads going to those freeways are where you’re going to see us mostly.”
Austinites will certainly see more police over the holidays. Galloway says APD is launching a “Home for the Holidays” initiative, where non-patrol officers are enlisted to log at least one shift on patrol looking for traffic violators. The initiative will culminate in a “No Refusal” initiative from Friday, Dec. 28 at 9 p.m. until Tuesday, Jan. 1, 5 a.m. In addition to regular patrols, Galloway promised “50 plus officers that are going to be doing nothing but looking for drunk drivers.”
Galloway also downplayed the list somewhat.
“The data that we get from the top 20 bars – We stop a drunk individual and they tell us that’s the last place they were drinking. Well, how good is that information? We use it … but its not something that we really put a lot of weight on.”
Asked at the press conference why the list was released, Galloway said “Because you asked for it … I have no desire to release that list, but its something the media asked for.”
