In conjunction with the Department of Motor Vehicles, the Hampton Police Division developed and implemented the Habitual Offender Program to enable Officers to identify and apprehend the City's most blatant habitual offender motorists.  This enforcement project is aimed at identifying and targeting Hampton's repeat driving offenders, with an emphasis on drunk and impaired drivers.

Mission

• Enables Officers to identify and apprehend the City's most blatant habitual offender motorists with information received from the Department of Motor Vehicles.
• Employs a proactive approach aimed at repeat driving offenders, specifically drunk and impaired drivers, in an effort to reduce their opportunity to commit additional crimes.

The original concept of the Habitual Offender Program was based on the proven fact that a relatively small number of repeat criminals account for a disproportionately large number of reported crimes.  The Division concluded and proved that the same holds true for repeat traffic offenders, thus prompting the development of a program to target Hampton's worst driving offenders.  A Habitual Offender in Virginia is a driver who has demonstrated such blatant disregard for traffic laws that their license has been revoked by Court Order for a period of ten years.  To ensure effectiveness, Hampton's Habitual Offender Program targets the worst of the worst; those with at least three drunk driving convictions.  The initial project was implemented as assigned patrol duty in 1989 by the evening shift.  The project has since expanded to all shifts as well as to other law enforcement agencies, including the State Police. Each Officer is assigned Habitual Offenders to check on periodically to determine whether or not they are in compliance with the Court Order.  The Division has received recognition at the National, State and Regional level for the development and implementation of this project.

For more information, please email chiefsoffice@hampton.gov or call (757) 727-6510.