Ah, with anti-DUI fever hot-hot-hot with Orange County law enforcement this weekend, there even seem to be a couple checkpoints going up earlier than usual.
Witness tonight's at Jamboree Road and Santa Barbara Drive in Newport Beach and an undisclosed location in Seal Beach.
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See:
Countywide Law Enforcement Logs 316 Drunk or Drugged Driving Arrests in a Week
149 OC Arrests Logged After 1st Weekend of DUI Sweeps
The Newport Beach Police operation is scheduled to run from 9 tonight through 2 a.m. Friday.
The Orange County Sheriff's Department, as part of the “Avoid the 38” anti-DUI task force, previously listed tonight's Seal Beach Police operation.
Costa Mesa Police have a DUI/drivers license checkpoint of their own from 8 p.m. Friday through 3 a.m. Saturday. That department does not give advance word of the locations other than to note it will be “within city ìimits.”
Anaheim Police also had a DUI checkpoint planned Friday night, according to “Avoid the 38” (the number refers to how many Orange County law enforcement agencies are part of the task force).
Westminster, Laguna Beach and Irvine may also mount checkpoints before Labor Day weekend ends, “Avoid the 38” previously noted.
The task force also previously announced saturation patrols, where officers in certain cities flood streets known for DUI arrests, accidents and fatalities. Orange, Seal Beach and Placentia were said to be holding them Friday, with Anaheim joining in Sunday.
Cal State Fullerton Police and cops in Buena Park and Laguna Beach may also launch saturation patrols before Labor Day weekend ends.
It should also be more difficult to drive drunk on Orange County freeways, highways and some unincorporated roads as the California Highway Patrol announced its last “maximum enforcement period” of the summer from 6 p.m. Friday through 11:59 p.m. on Monday, which is Labor Day. All available officers will be on patrol looking for impaired drivers, according to the CHP.
Funding for anti-DUI programs is provided by grants from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
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OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.