A crowd of about 50 was pensive while names of victims killed in DWI crashes in Dutchess County since 1981 were read.

This event outside the Dutchess County government building was put on by the community group "Remove Intoxicated Drivers," or "RID."

Dutchess County STOP-DWI Coordinator William Johnson said campaigns like this one and stricter laws are clearly working. Johnson said there has been "a steady decline the last five or so years" in alcohol-related crashes in Dutchess County.

Looking at New York state, year-by-year statistics are also encouraging. With the exception of a few hiccups, there has been a steady decline in the number of fatal alcohol-related crashes in the state.

In 1982, there were more than 1,100 such crashes, and by 2014, there were less than 400, according to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

While those numbers have steadily trended downward, police still have their hands full.

Johnson said that each year in Dutchess County, there are an estimated 1,400 incidents that have at least something to do with impaired driving. That is almost four each day.

Johnson, as well as members of "RID," gave high praise to probation officers who are tasked with controlling a major aspect of the overall problem -- chronic offenders.

"One out of three people on probation is there for a drunk driving conviction," Johnson said. "Those are people who need supervision, need direction, and need to comply with court orders."

"RID" also recognized the winner of its annual Jo Johnson Memorial Scholarship, worth $500. Local high school senior Ilahi Asiya Creary-Miller got the award for an essay in which she wrote from the point of view of an unborn child whose parents were killed in an DWI accident.

"It's about the simple fact that a lot of people who end up dead in these situations are people who didn't do anything [wrong] at all," Creary-Miller said.