Police in Providence, a city of half a million people, made fewer arrests for DUI than those in small towns like Burrillville, Tiverton, and Gloucester, a study by the Providence Journal found. South Kingstown alone made 120 DUI arrests in 2004.

"Everything we have done for the last two and a half years has focused on the violence," said Providence Police Chief Dean Esserman said. "I make no apology for it." But Esserman said that he plans to boost traffic enforcement.

The Rhode Island State Police have already done so, making 253 DUI arrests in the first half of 2005, more than the total for all of last year. Rhode Island has been ranked poorly in national reports on state DUI enforcement; the death rate from drunk driving is high, DUI suspects can refuse to take a breath test, and the state Supreme Court has ruled that police drunk-driving checkpoints are unconstitutional.

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