UPDATE: 18-Day Police Crackdown Nabs 209

The Avoid the 13 Sonoma County DUI Task Force recorded a total of 209 arrests during the 18-day campaign from Aug. 19 to Sept. 5.

Of those arrested, 162 drivers were arrested for DUI during roving DUI patrols. Another 13 DUI arrests came from four checkpoints on Aug.18 and 19 in Petaluma and Sept. 1-2 in Santa Rosa.

A DUI Task Force Operation on Friday night Aug. 26 targeted DUI probationers and netted seven additional arrests for probation violations.

On Sunday, Aug. 28, the DUI task force conducted a DUI warrant sweep from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Twenty-five law enforcement officers from all 13 agencies in the county attempted to serve 124 DUI warrants. Officers arrested 27 DUI warrant offenders during the campaign.

During the campaign, there were five injury DUI collisions that injured six people. There were no fatal crashes reported.

According to "Avoid the 13" spokesman Sgt. Ken Savano of the Petaluma Police Department, the anti-DUI campaigns are working.

"DUI arrests for the Summer Mobilization Period have increased to their highest level in three years," Savano said. "At the same time, DUI collisions are at their lowest in the same reporting period."

DUI arrests are up 12 percent from the 2010 Summer Mobilization Period from 155 to 175. While DUI crashes have dropped 37 percent from 2010, from eight to five.

In the last three years, Sonoma County law enforcement officers have recorded 498 DUI arrests. There have been ZERO fatal crashes in the all of the DUI campaign periods for the last three years. In the last three summer campaigns there have been 21 injury DUI collisions that have injured 26 people.

The next DUI campaign period will be the Winter Mobilization Period from the middle of December through New Year's Day.

The national Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over crackdown is led by NHTSA with the California Avoid DUI Task Force Campaign combining high-visibility enforcement and heightened public awareness through publicity. For more information, visit the High-Visibility Enforcement Campaign Headquarters at www.StopImpairedDriving.org.

Statewide and local Avoid DUI Task Force Campaign Enforcement Schedules and Daily DUI Arrest/Fatal Stats, visit the www.californiaavoid.org. The Program is funded by the California Office of Traffic Safety who reminds everyone to please – Report Drunk Driving – Call 9-1-1


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AVOID the 13 Sonoma County DUI Task Force - The Petaluma Police Department serves as the lead agency for the regional DUI enforcement efforts in Sonoma County to reduce alcohol-involved fatalities and injuries and raise general public awareness regarding the problems associated with drinking and driving.

Participating agencies include Police Departments from the cities of Cloverdale, Cotati, Petaluma, Rohnert Park, Santa Rosa, Sebastopol, Sonoma, Windsor, the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department, Sonoma County Probation Department, Sonoma State University Police Department, Santa Rosa Junior College Police Department, ABC, MADD, the California Highway Patrol, and State Parks.