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MIDDLETOWN — Officer Steve Ream said he has arrested about 500 drunken drivers during his 15-year career, but never before one on his 15th DUI offense.

Ream arrested Michael A. Whalen in January after he rear-ended a van at a Middletown intersection. It was his 15th arrest for operating a vehicle while intoxicated, he said.

Whalen was driving a green Chevrolet at 2:53 p.m. Jan. 23 when he hit a Cincinnati Bell van at Roosevelt and University boulevards and reportedly tried to flee the scene.

The 49-year-old man failed three field sobriety tests, Ream said. Whalen, who had no address at the time of his arrest, formerly resided in Hamilton and Middletown.

Whalen was sentenced May 2 in Butler County Common Pleas Court to a 2½-year prison term for the fourth-degree felony. He is housed in the state Correctional Reception Center in Orient.

Throughout Memorial Day weekend, law enforcement agencies will be stepping up patrols as part of the "Click It or Ticket" campaign. Last year on this weekend, alcohol was involved in six fatal accidents in Ohio, according to the Ohio Highway Patrol.

Whalen is just one of the 48 people arrested on drunken driving charges in Middletown through March this year, according to police records.

In 2006, 237 people were arrested in the city on DUI charges, 24 more than the previous year, records show.

Taking a taxicab or calling a friend is far less trouble than the cost and punishment involved in a DUI arrest, Ream said.

"I don't care if you're in Cleveland, Ohio, going to Middletown. The taxi ride from Cleveland to Middletown will be cheaper," he said.

It's advice that's beneficial to both men and women.

"I've arrested just as many females for DUIs as I have males," he said.

Arresting those offenders is a two-hour process for officers, who conduct field sobriety tests, impound the vehicle, take a breath sample, book the offender and complete paperwork.

Ream said he has seen a lot of people lose their lives in alcohol-related crashes.

"In my 15 years I've seen a lot of death and it surrounds drunk drivers, and typically the drunk live," he said.

Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2551 or mengle@coxohio.com.