The Best Way To Prevent Drunk Driving Is To Use Confiscated Corvettes To Promote Awareness Says Long Island Police

Optics are everything. So, instead of the usual stuffy, conservative image that comes to mind when you envision the type of person who becomes a police officer, the Long Island Police Department thinks it has a new way to transcend this image. It seems that the department is using intimidation tactics to dissuade people from driving under the influence by entering a 2020 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray coupe into its police fleet. The Vette was seized from someone who got caught driving under the influence of alcohol for a second time in 2022.

I'm not sure how seeing a seized C8 Corvette that's plastered with a police livery, lights, and "DWI seizure" graphics is going to somehow convince people who drink and drive to avoid doing so, but I guess increased visibility can't hurt. The C8 in question has just around 3,000 miles on its odometer, so the repeat DWI offender must have only taken it out on special occasions.

ABC 7 New York spoke with Suffolk County Police Commissioner Kevin Catalina, who reassured them that this new addition to his fleet did not cost taxpayers. Catalina said, "This did not cost the taxpayers of Suffolk a dime. The wrapping of the car was also forfeiture money, so this didn't cost anybody anything, and ultimately, if we get one person to stop driving while impaired, maybe we save a life, and you can't put a cost on saving a life."

Police Commissioner Catalina also told ABC 7 that the new police Corvette will not be used as a patrol car, but rather it will be driven to different locations and events like parades to deter people from drinking and driving. The logic behind the thinking of using this C8 as a rolling DWI deterrent is that it will make potential DWI offenders understand "that if you drive while impaired in Suffolk County, there will be serious consequences."