Nearly 200 arrested in DUI crackdown

A countywide crackdown on drunken and drug-impaired motorists netted 187 arrests over six days, authorities said Thursday.

The late-summer Riverside County Avoid the 30 campaign — named for the number of police agencies involved — got under way Friday morning. Between then and Wednesday night, saturation patrols and sobriety checkpoints were deployed in a number of locations.

The nearly 200 motorists arrested on suspicion of DUI since Friday compared to 234 arrested during the same phase of last summer’s Avoid campaign, according to Riverside police Sgt. Robert Tipre, the Avoid coordinator.

He said there had been no reports of alcohol-related fatal crashes.

The Avoid crackdown, which continues through Labor Day weekend, is part
of a national campaign, “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over.”

In the coming days, anti-DUI operations are planned in Beaumont, Canyon Lake, Coachella, Eastvale, La Quinta, Lake Elsinore, Menifee, Perris, Rancho Mirage, Riverside and Temecula.

The Avoid campaign will coincide with the California Highway Patrol’s “Maximum Enforcement Period,” set for Aug. 29-Sept. 1. During the MEP, all available CHP officers hit the streets to catch intoxicated motorists, speeders and other traffic violators.

During last summer’s two-week Avoid campaign, 695 people were arrested on suspicion of DUI, compared to 710 in 2012, according to figures.