A new report from the Wyoming Association of Sheriffs and Chiefs of Police reveals that from 2006 to 2008, 69 percent of all arrests made in the Cowboy State were alcohol related.

The report, released Thursday by the association, includes data from all 23 Wyoming counties. The report also showed that public intoxication and drunk driving made up 42 percent of arrests for the time period studied.

Tim Feathers, president of the association and chief of police in Powell, said the association hopes the report will influence legislators to consider stiffening alcohol laws and regulations.

"We have a serious problem," Feathers said. "We can't arrest our way out of it."

The report was funded through a grant from the Wyoming Department of Transportation's Highway Safety Program. The first data was collected from just 10 counties during a six-month period in 2005.

Since then, information has been collected from 51,927 people who were arrested and detained. Data was collected for a full year during 2008.

In 2008, 3,810 people were arrested for driving under the influence, compared to 3,611 in 2007 and 3,167 in 2006. Arrests for public intoxication went from 905 in 2006 to 1,612 in 2008.

Data collected also showed that the average blood alcohol content of people arrested for public intoxication was .241, while it was .155 for those driving under the influence.

In Wyoming, a person is presumed too intoxicated to drive if his or her blood-alcohol level is .08 or above.

For a male weighing 180 pounds, consuming at least seven drinks in one hour would result in a blood-alcohol level of .15. A female weighing 120 pounds would only need five drinks to reach the same limit.

Casper Police Chief Tom Pagel said people need to realize that alcohol creates serious problems for both law enforcement and social services in the state.

"Wyoming in general has a very casual attitude toward drinking," Pagel said. "[Drinking] is not a God-given right. It's not a rite of passage."

Copies of the report are available on the association's Web site at wascop.com. You can also download a copy from the Wyoming First Lady's Initiative to Reduce Childhood Drinking Web site at wfli.org.

Contact education reporter Jasa Santos at 307-266-0593 or jasa.santos@trib.com. Read her education blog at tribtown.trib.com/JasaSantos/blog.