Naperville tops the list of Chicago-area communities with the highest number of arrests for motorists driving under the influence, according to data released this week.
The report, released Tuesday by the Alliance Against Intoxicated Motorists, showed Illinois' fifth-largest city had 671 DUI arrests in 2010, an increase of more than 15 percent from the year prior.
For the second year in a row, Rockford ranked first in Illinois, with 727 DUI arrests in 2010.
Other Chicagoland communities ranking in the Top 10 include Elgin, with 410 arrests; Waukegan, with 390 arrests; Carol Stream, with 361 arrests, Elmhurst, with 318 arrests; and Aurora, with 296 arrests.
Chicago saw its number of DUI arrests drop nearly 15 percent between 2009 and 2010, according to the 21st annual report. There were 4,341 DUI arrests in Chicago in 2009 and 3,695 in 2010, the AAIM said.
The organization specifically praised Officer Timothy Walter for making 180 of the Chicago arrests last year.
In county rankings, Cook County led the list with 515 DUI arrests, followed by Lake County with 393, Dekalb County with 327, and Will County with 267 arrests.
In releasing the data, AAIM executive director Charlene Chapman cautioned that the number of DUI arrests doesn't equate to the number of drunken drivers on the road.
"More DUI arrests in a municipality or county do not necessarily mean there are more drunk drivers in these locations than in the rest of the state," she said. "It does indicate a more active enforcement effort targeting DUI by those departments compared to other departments."
Limited public transportation in some cities is thought to be a contributing factor to DUIs in the suburbs, as more people are dependent on cars for getting from place to place.
The annual survery has been conducted since 1990 with the help of grants from the Illinois Department of Transportation. AAIM reached out to 700 different police departments for their survey. The group said it received responses from 74 percent of the departments.
Alliance Against Intoxicated Motorists: 2010 Top Departments
