More Than 300 Arrested In Riverside County Holiday DUI Crackdown
The first 10 days of a countywide crackdown on drunken and drug-impaired drivers netted more than 300 arrests, it was announced Wednesday.
The Riverside County Avoid the 30 task force — named for the number of law enforcement agencies participating — began conducting sobriety checkpoints and saturation patrols Dec. 17 as part of its annual end-of-year anti-DUI campaign, which wraps up Jan. 3.
As of midnight Monday, 328 people had been arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated, according to Karen Haverkamp, Riverside police traffic bureau supervisor and Avoid coordinator.
During the same 10-day period last year, 381 suspects were taken into custody.
Haverkamp said one person has died in a DUI-related crash since the crackdown got under way.
During the 2009 Avoid campaign, three people died and 65 people were injured in alcohol-related crashes, according to Haverkamp.
She said sobriety checkpoints are planned in Blythe, Lake Elsinore, Moreno Valley, Murrieta, Riverside and Temecula.
Saturation patrols are scheduled in the same locations, as well as Banning, Beaumont, Canyon Lake, Coachella, Corona, Desert Hot Springs, Hemet, La Quinta, Lake Perris, Menifee, Palm Desert, Palm Springs, Perris and San Jacinto.
