City Of Tulsa To Increase Fines For DUI

Part of the fine for getting a drunk driving ticket in the City of Tulsa will be going up to help pay for a new statewide database to help police officers track repeat offenders. 

Keeping track of DUIs is becoming a top priority for Oklahoma.

"I think most of us were kind of shocked to realize we didn't have something like this," said Tulsa City Councilor Anna America. 

Before last April when the governor signed a bill into law that allows police to see if a person has a DUI or DWI history, only Tulsa and Oklahoma City had accessible records for those offenses.  

Meaning someone could get multiple DUI arrests in smaller municipal courts. 

"And they could come to Tulsa and we wouldn't even know that in our system because it wasn't in a statewide database," America said. 

But now there is one.  It's called the Oklahoma Impaired Driver Database.  It will begin testing on Monday and the state hopes it's up and running in March.

"Which I think is going to be a great thing for all of us," America said. 

Part of the law increases the DUI fees by $15.

"We collect it, but none of that money stays here in Tulsa, it all goes to fund this state database in Oklahoma City," America said. 

To be in-line with the state law, the City of Tulsa is updating an ordinance to reflect the fee change.

"And then if somebody looks at our ordinance, you can see the whole list of what those fees are, and what they all go to," America said. 

Not only will officers see your DUI history, they are now required to report the case to a state district court, not the local municipal court, which are not courts of record.

"If somebody gets a DUI anywhere in any court, any court of record, it will now be in this database," American said. 

Some think this closes a loophole that allowed some repeat offenders to be treated as if it was their first DUI.

A first-time DUI is usually considered a misdemeanor with a fine and up to six months in jail.  

The second offense, if committed with 10 years of the first, is considered a felony in Oklahoma, and carries a minimum of one year in prison.