What: LAPD’s Emergency Operations Division will
staff a sobriety and driver’s license checkpoint followed by a DUI
saturation patrol the following evening.
When: DUI
and Driver’s License Checkpoint
Friday, February 17, 2012
8 p.m. - 2 a.m.
DUI Saturation Patrol
Saturday, February 18, 2012
6 p.m. to 2
a.m.
Where: The
checkpoint will be at Van Nuys Boulevard between Parthenia Street
and Roscoe Boulevard in Panorama City
The DUI Saturation Patrol will be
throughout LAPD’s Mission Area
Who: LAPD Emergency Operations Division Officers
Why: Because Sobriety checkpoints are a proven enforcement tool effective in
reducing the number of persons killed and injured in alcohol-involved crashes.
Research shows that crashes involving alcohol drop by an average of 20 percent
when well-publicized checkpoints are conducted often enough.
Officers
will be approaching drivers passing through the checkpoint for signs of alcohol
and/or drug impairment. Officers will
also check for proper licensing and will strive to delay motorists only
momentarily. Drivers caught driving impaired can expect jail, license
suspension, and insurance increases, as well as fines, fees, DUI classes and
other expenses that can exceed $10,000.
“Over
the course of the past two years, DUI collisions have claimed approximately 30 lives
and resulted in over 2,000 injury traffic collisions harming our friends and
neighbors,” said Sergeant Karmody of LAPD’s Traffic Coordination Section.
(more)
According
to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), checkpoints have
provided the most effective documented results of any of the DUI enforcement
strategies while also yielding considerable cost savings of $6 for every $1
spent. Checkpoints are placed in
locations that have the greatest opportunity for achieving drunk and drugged
driving deterrence and provide the greatest safety for officers and the public.
“Deaths
from drunk and drug-impaired driving are going down in California,” said
Christopher J. Murphy, Director of the California Office of Traffic Safety
(OTS). “But that still means that hundreds of our friends, family and
co-workers are killed each year, along with tens of thousands who are seriously
injured. We must all continue to work together to bring an end to these
tragedies. If you see a drunk driver, call
9-1-1.”
LAPD receives funding for the checkpoint and DUI
saturation patrols through a grant from the
OTS obtained through the NHTSA, targeting those who still don’t heed the
message to designate a sober driver.
This information was provided by the LAPD
