Bend Police Department and Officer Zachary Childers receive top Oregon DUII enforcement honors
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- The Bend Police Department announced Thursday that it's been awarded the 2025 Enforcement Agency of the Year by the Oregon DUII Multi-Disciplinary Training Task Force.
In addition, Bend Police Officer Zachary Childers was named the 2025 DUII Officer of the Year. Officer Childers has been a Bend officer since 2017 and in law enforcement for more than a decade. He currently serves as a DUII/Aggressive Driving Enforcement Officer for the agency.
The awards were presented at the 2026 Oregon DUII Multi-Disciplinary Conference. Mothers Against Drunk Driving also recognized Officer Childers with the honor of DUII Officer of the Year at the event.
In 2025, Bend Police arrested more than 550 people for DUI - and Officer Childers made 151 of those arrests.
"His commitment to keeping our roads safe by finding and arresting impaired drivers makes a huge different in our community, and we are proud of his work and his award," Bend Police Communications Manager Sheila Miller said in a news release that continues below:
DUII enforcement is a primary focus of the Bend Police Department. In addition to enforcement, however, the Department is committed to prevention as well.
In 2025, the department’s traffic team partnered with school resource officers to educate students on traffic safety, with hands-on exercises using goggles and pedal carts that help simulate driving and driving impaired.
On New Year’s Eve, Bend Police staffed 10 additional patrol officers, focused in the downtown area, to make sure our community knew law enforcement was taking DUIIs seriously. The department also set up an education booth and provided free alcohol breath testing to nearly 200 members of the public.
Last year, four of the city's five fatal crashes in Bend involved impairment, Miller said.
"That’s one of the reasons our department has increased staffing, training and the skillsets of members of our traffic reconstruction team," she said. "Having an effective reconstruction team allows us to hold impaired drivers accountable when they harm others in the community."
Miller said, "The Bend Police Department will continue to prioritize keeping drunk and drug-impaired drivers off our roads. We encourage every member of our community to not get behind the wheel while impaired, so we can all work together to keep our roads safe for all users."
