Stonington -- Last Tuesday afternoon, police responded to a report of a possible intoxicated driver loitering around the drive-though lane of the McDonald's on Route 2. When they arrived, they found a man sitting in his car apparently under the influence. He was arrested after performing a series of sobriety tests.

The Pawcatuck man earned the distinction of becoming the last of 166 drivers that police charged with driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs in 2016. On some weekends they made as many as three arrests in a night.

Stonington police typically make more DWI arrests than other area departments combined and last year saw them make 53 more than in 2015 when they charged 113 people.

In November alone they charged 22 drivers with DWI compared to 10 in November 2015.

Capt. Todd Olson said the fact the town has experienced no serious DWI crashes this year, is proof the enforcement works.

“It really makes a difference,” he said, adding the enforcement has proven to be a very effective preventative tool.

He said the officers who work the second and third shifts, when most DWI arrests are made, are very active in looking for drunken drivers and those committing other motor vehicle violations. He said the patrols are mixture of new officers who have the latest training from the police academy and veteran officers who bring years of experience identifying drunken drivers. He said they work well together because it takes multiple officers to make an arrest and process the driver.

“They truly look to keep our roads safe,” he said about the officers.

Since the 1980s, the town has earned the reputation of being the last place you want to drive if you’re under the influence. And Olson pointed out that the arrests are legitimate ones in which drivers are clearly under the influence. Drivers arrested last year crashed into poles, signs and cars, were found stopped in the middle of the road and even almost crashed head-on into a cruiser. Other motorists alerted police to drunken drivers.

In July, a local woman was charged twice within 15 hours with drunken driving, including one incident in which police said she drove down Route 1 with the hood of her car up, blocking her view, and used her emergency brake to stop her car.

In September a local man, later charged with DWI, launched his speeding pickup truck into the air as it went over the Mystic drawbridge and the truck struck a series of signs and a fence before hitting a utility pole. A few drivers led police on chases including a Pawcatuck man who drove his red Corvette home with police behind him for two miles at speeds between 13 and 34 miles per hour while swerving.

Two people were charged with driving scooters while drunk. One man fled the scene of crash but left behind his bumper and license plate for police. Another man drove across the lawn of the World War I monument in Pawcatuck. One women who was arrested threatened to burn down the police station.

A drunk Pawcatuck woman chased down a school bus in her car and took her child off the bus and later tried to force another driver off the road after the driver honked the horn at her.

But most of the arrests were made by officers identifying drivers swerving, speeding or driving erratically before they could cause a crash.

While the 166 arrests may seem like a lot, they are not close to the department’s record years. In 2005, police arrested 227 drivers for driving under the influence. At that time patrolmen Greg Howard, now a detective, and Mario Ritacco, now a sergeant, accounted for 83 of those arrests. In 2004, they made even more, accounting for 109 of their department’s 223 DWI arrests.

j.wojtas@theday.com