Elgin ranked sixth on the 2022 Alliance Against Intoxicated Motorists’ annual list of police departments making the most drunken driving arrests in Illinois.

City officers made 234 driving under the influence busts last year, 42 less than in 2021, according to numbers submitted to AAIM.

“We are honored to be once again recognized as one of the top agencies in the state when it comes to DUI enforcement,” Elgin police Sgt. Mike Martino said. “At the Elgin Police Department, we take the enforcement of driving under the influence extremely seriously as it reduces the amount of serious crashes, which has a profound effect on our community.”

AAIM, a nonprofit dedicated to preventing deaths and injuries caused by chemically impaired or distracted motor vehicle and watercraft drivers, has for the last 33 years tallied the results of an Illinois DUI arrest survey. The effort is funded by a grant from the Illinois Department of Transportation.

The organization uses the compiled data each year to recognize the most productive police departments and individual officers in the state in regards to DUI law enforcement.

Aurora led the state with 339 DUI arrests, followed by Decatur (289), Lombard (287), Rockford (283), Franklin Park (250), Elgin (234), and Naperville and Elmhurst (tied with 224), according to AAIM figures.

Rounding out the top 10 was Normal with 217, Bloomington with 215 and Edwardsville with 196.

The Elgin police officers cited for the most DUI arrests in 2022 were detective Paul Dublinski, 29; Officer Daniel Kazy-Garey, 27; Officer Jonathan Taylor, 16; Officer Hannah Banks, 10; and Officer Katherine Kirsch, 9.

The officer with the most 2022 DUI arrests in the state was Trooper Kevin Bradley of the Illinois State Police who made 145 arrests, AAIM said. The next highest was Chicago District 12 Officer Joshua Zumarraga with 129.

Because of its size and number of sworn officers, Chicago is a separate category.

Nearly 700 police agencies were surveyed by AAIM, and 82% responded.

Comparing Illinois counties, Winnebago and Lake counties ranked the highest with 515 and 279 arrests respectively. Kane County came in at 13th, making 82 arrests in 2022.

Interestingly, Elgin ranked higher than the much larger Aurora for average number of arrests per officer.

Elgin has 184 sworn officers, which means the average number of arrests per officer was 1.27, data shows. By comparison, Aurora — the second largest city in the state — has 310 officers and an average per officer DUI arrest rate of 1.09. Both were in the top 10, Elgin at No. 7 and Aurora at No. 9.

The top police department for drunken drivers on a per officer basis was Franklin Park. Its 48 officers made 250 arrests and had a per officer arrest rate average of 5.21.

Naperville Sun reporter Suzanne Baker contributed.

Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.