El Paso set its own DWI enforcement deadlines. It missed them.

In short

On May 12, 2026, Council approved a coordinated anti-DWI initiative — unanimously, in public, alongside grieving families, MADD, and the Sober Streets Movement. What it actually ordered was a study: a data report in 45 days and a citywide strategy in 90. The report arrived eleven days late. The strategy's deadline passed August 10 with no public record of it being presented. Meanwhile EPPD projects a 28 percent rise in DWI arrests for 2026, the District Attorney reports misdemeanor filings down from roughly 3,000 pre-pandemic to about 2,100 now, and the Police Chief has said publicly the department lacks the officers to enforce all traffic violations. This plan is honest about the law — Texas has not allowed sobriety checkpoints since 1994, and asking for them invites an easy rejection. What works and is lawful today: saturation patrols in known hotspots, No Refusal operations, funded positions instead of directives, and a rule that makes Council's own deadlines enforceable — a missed date goes back on the agenda automatically, with a written explanation.