Crime & Safety

Los Altos Police Officer's DUI Work Applauded

Officer Chris Tucker has received a MADD California Hero Award for excelling at efforts to stop drunken driving. Other local officers include Santa Clara County Sheriff's Deputy Samy Tarazi and CHP Officer Daniel Gunter.

 

Los Altos Police Officer Chris Tucker has received a MADD California Hero Award for his contributions to the campaign against drunk driving. MADD is known also as Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

He is a previous MADD Award recipient and led the Los Altos Police Department with 14 DUI arrests last calendar year 2011.

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More than 600 people from 53 of the state's 58 counties attended a recognition dinner last month that honors law enforcement officers and agencies who've excelled in efforts to stop drunken driving, promote public education about its dangers and prevent underage drinking.

A total of 170 officers from a variety of law enforcement agencies around the state received the California Hero Award. That includes regional law enforcement agencies that also serve Los Altos and Los Altos Hills, the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department and the California Highway Patrol.

Find out what's happening in Los Altoswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

  • Santa Clara County Sheriff's Deputy Samy Tarazi, who has had the most DUI arrests for the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office for the last two consecutive years, according to his nomination remarks.
  • California Highway Patrol Officer Daniel Gunter. His nomination said: "Officer Gunter is to be commended for his professionalism and commitment to apprehending the impaired driver. In 2011, Officer Gunter made 107 arrests for DUI.  This is the most of any California Highway Patrol officer in the area covering the San Francisco peninsula (San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara counties)."

“The officers recognized at this event have made huge sacrifices in their lives to become the top in the field of traffic safety and enforcement," Silas Miers, MADD California Law Enforcement Program Specialist, said in a prepared statement. "These are the top officers in the state for DUI Enforcement and many have additional duties within the department.”

MADD is a nonprofit organization dedicated to combatting drunk driving. The statewide recognition dinner was held at the Hyatt Regency in Sacramento. Funding for the recognition program was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

—Patch Editor Charles Burress contributed to this report 

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