Last year, Morgan Hill police officers doubled the number of
drunk-driving arrests during the Avoid the 13 campaign from Dec. 15
to midnight Jan. 1, with 67 arrests and no fatalities.
Morgan Hill
Last year, Morgan Hill police officers doubled the number of drunk-driving arrests during the Avoid the 13 campaign from Dec. 15 to midnight Jan. 1, with 67 arrests and no fatalities.
As the 34th annual campaign kicks off at the first minute of Dec. 14 this year, officers are hoping to at least match their mark from last year.
Law enforcement agencies throughout Santa Clara County are participating in the effort to discourage people from drinking and driving or taking drugs and driving. Throughout the nine-county effort, there will be 125 agencies participating, and all agencies are encouraging the public to call 911 to report DUI drivers and to plan their festivities for the holiday season so that if they are drinking, they stay overnight, have a designated driver or call a taxi.
A 60-officer DUI strike force, five sobriety checkpoints, maximum freeway enforcement by the California Highway Patrol and special overtime units in eight jurisdictions will focus on the campaign to keep the county’s roadways safe during the holiday period, a time when DUIs traditionally spike.
The Avoid the 13 campaign, named best multi-jurisdictional effort in the state, ends at midnight on New Year’s Day, said Chief Lynne Johnson of the Palo Alto Police Department, who chairs the campaign.
The CHP in San Jose will conduct a sobriety checkpoint on opening night from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., said officer Brandon Straw. San Jose Police with hold two checkpoints, Dec. 15 and Dec. 31, according to San Jose police officer Jose Garcia. The Gilroy-Hollister area command of the CHP plans a checkpoint for Dec. 21.
Overtime saturation patrols will be out after DUI suspects in Sunnyvale, San Jose, Santa Clara, Morgan Hill, Gilroy, Los Gatos, San Jose State University and Campbell. The Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office will adjust patrol hours to conform to prime DUI times, and all departments emphasize DUI enforcement with officers on regular beats.
Officers covering cities from Palo Alto to Gilroy boosted arrest totals by 27 percent compared to the previous year when they brought in 716 DUI suspects over the 2006-07 winter campaign. Four died in DUI crashes, compared with none the previous year.
“It’s easy to avoid Avoid the 13,” Johnson said. “Always designate a sober driver to get everyone else home safely before you head out to a party, slow down and wear your seatbelt. These are simple things to do, and they work in keeping people safe.”
Avoid the 13 is part of a nine-county Bay Area Regional Avoid effort, which arrested 3,037 DUI suspects during last year’s holiday season. The California Office of Traffic Safety funds all 41 Avoid campaigns, which cover 71 percent of California’s counties.
