Santa Barbara – A dozen Santa Barbara area law enforcement agencies—including California State Parks, Santa Barbara Police Department, Santa Barbara County Sheriffs, U.S Forest Service Enforcement, and all regional incorporated city police departments—have flooded local media with announcements of “Avoid the 12” DUI enforcement efforts that have seen “significant success rates”, according to Sheriff’s Department Public Information Officer Drew Sugars in statements to the press.
By way of alerting the public to even greater enforcement plans for the September 1-3 Labor Day Weekend throughout the area, authorities point to more than 100 DUI arrests in Santa Barbara County in just the preceding week. Comparing arrest volumes for the same calendar week in the prior year, arrests are down by nearly 50%, a figure which is pointed out as a measure of successfully getting the word out to the driving public that “we are in a zero tolerance environment,” according to an unidentified CHP spokesman.
During the Labor Day Weekend, the city of Santa Barbara will be the scene of multiple checkpoints manned by SBPD and CHP teams. According to media reports, “checkpoints are in locations with the greatest opportunity for achieving deterrence.”
The public is warned that drivers passing through checkpoints will be observed for any signs of impairment or influence of alcohol or other drugs. Those suspected or determined to be driving in such a state will be subject to immediate arrest and jail time.
Sheriff Bill Brown of SBSD, in announcing this current program, warned “we are not going to cut anyone even one inch of slack…our officers are determined to prevent the carnage and heartbreak of DUI crashes.”
Law enforcement, referring to these efforts as “DUI Saturation Patrols”, indicates that the cities of Goleta, Guadalupe, Lompoc, and Santa Maria will all be the subjects of these efforts, as well as the City of Santa Barbara.
This highly-publicized area effort is described as part of the national “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” crackdown, led by the California Office of Traffic Safety.
Taxi, anyone?
Photo: Courtesy Santa Barbara County Sheriff; Santa Maria Police Department
