They conducted a heavy “saturation patrol” of Elk Grove two Fridays before the holiday when parties and heavy alcohol consumption are expected.
Elk Grove Sgt. Brian Winsor gave maps of Elk Grove’s bars and restaurants that serve alcohol to a dozen officers during a briefing.
“If you don’t have any more questions then let’s go out there and get them,” he told them before their DUI street patrol on Aug. 28.
They arrested three drivers suspected of being intoxicated that night, Elk Grove police spokesperson Christopher Trim reported.
Heightened crackdowns like saturation patrols and DUI street checkpoints were a regular sight during weekends this summer in Elk Grove.
Elk Grove police arrested eight DUI suspects just between Aug. 21 to 23, according to police watch summaries.
Such operations are also a part of the state-funded Avoid the Capital 15 program that unites 15 law enforcement agencies across Sacramento County.
“We’ve been deploying every weekend through this program and we will continue to deploy through that and beyond,” Elk Grove Police Chief Robert Lehner said.
Authorities arrested 129 DUI suspects in Sacramento County during the first week of the Avoid the Capital 15 program’s major enforcement period this summer, according to program statistics. No fatal DUI collisions were also reported during that time.
Lou Costanza, a spokesperson for the TMD Group that’s marketing the Avoid the Capital 15 program, said that the program’s task force historically targeted DUI suspects during holidays like Memorial Day, Fourth of July and Labor Day.
“It’s nice to have one arrest and no fatalities, but to have 100 arrests and no fatalities is really good too,” he said.
Lehner said that the task force mainly works to cut down the number of DUI-related collisions and fatalities.
“This is all about reducing the effects of alcohol-related driving,” he said.
In Elk Grove, Trim reported that DUI cases and arrests decreased from 365 in 2007 to 305 in 2008.
Winsor credited the decrease to the police’s DUI crackdowns.
“Almost every weekend, we’re out there,” he said. “We’re doing a good job of getting the word out.”
He added that the police also had improved training in spotting drunk drivers and mentioned that the grant funding was a “huge help.”
However, Winsor also noted the April case where a suspected drunk driver allegedly hit and killed a motorcyclist near Elk Grove Regional Park.
“It wasn’t her first DUI,” he said, adding that suspect Rebecca Vela had a few prior DUI convictions.
The number of young women arrested for drunken driving reportedly rose 60 percent in Sacramento County since 2000. Winsor said that he could not begin to speculate about the reasons why, saying they could be due to new fads or social pressures.
“It doesn’t make any difference why, it’s incumbent upon us to make sure that we get out there and take them off the streets,” he said.
