It turns out the Orange County Sheriff's Department-led task force cracking down on drugged and drunken drivers through Labor Day isn't only interested in new DUI cases.
In addition to checkpoints and special patrols aimed at keeping impaired motorists off the streets, the sheriff's department is clearing warrants for those arrested for DUI but who failed to show up to court. That led to a sweep Monday that sent 12 people to jail.
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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 task force obtained 41 warrants for this event and moved in two teams through neighborhoods in the South County area,” explains Deputy Wayne Howard of the sheriff's Traffic Bureau in a statement. “People were arrested at their homes and places of employment. We sent a strong message that if you don't show for court or follow the terms of your probation, we're going to come find you and take you to jail.”
Not everyone who has warrants out was located, so those case files remain active and those people still face arrest, noted Howard, who added any of them stopped for a traffic offense or who make any other contact with law enforcement face arrest and having their vehicles impounded.
“We remind anyone with pending court actions to handle their obligation and avoid this situation,” Howard advised.
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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.