The tactical patrol squad headed by a Tucson police sergeant arrested last month on suspicion of drunken driving is being temporarily disbanded because there is no one to supervise the seven officers.

Sgt. Robert Lund supervised what Tucson police call a community response team.

Officers in the squad do not routinely answer calls for service. Instead they concentrate on specific neighborhood problems that residents have complained about such as vandalism, graffiti, minor thefts or prostitution.

They can work such problems in uniform and marked cars or in unmarked cars and in plain clothes, whichever is appropriate, said Capt. Clayton Kidd, the department’s chief of staff.

With Lund’s East Side squad redeployed to routine patrol, Kidd said, some neighborhood problems may not be quickly addressed, although officers can be pulled from other patrol divisions to handle such problems, Kidd said.

Kidd said Lund’s squad could be on routine patrol for two weeks or as long as two months while Lund’s DUI charge is dealt with in criminal court and internal investigators conduct an investigation.

Lund, 44, a 21-year veteran of the force, was arrested on suspicion of extreme drunken driving Jan. 29 by fellow officers. The officers had been sent to an 11:30 p.m. call reporting a possible drunken driver near South Harrison Road and East 22nd Street, Kidd said at the time.

Officers found Lund in a city-owned 1999 Ford Taurus parked near the southwest corner of the intersection and conducted a sobriety test, Kidd said. He did not say what Lund’s blood alcohol content was.

State law considers a driver impaired with a blood alcohol level 0.08 percent or higher, and extremely impaired with a blood alcohol level of 0.15 percent or higher. Penalties for extreme DUI are more severe, including a minimum of 30 days in jail.

Kidd said Lund was placed on paid leave while the department’s internal affairs section investigates.

Kidd said Tuesday he did not know if Lund had been drinking on duty.

When arrested Lund was in plain clothes and in an unmarked police car, Sgt. Mark Robinson, a police spokesman, said.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 6th, 2008 at 12:01 am and is filed under Local, Special. Tags for this post: Breaking News, Crime/Safety, David L. Teibel, Local-Crime/Safety, page-a02, Special-Breaking News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.