Press Releases

City of Salinas

POLICE DEPARTMENT * 222 Lincoln Avenue * Salinas, California 93901 * (831) 758-7090

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 15, 2009

CONTACT: Sergeant John D. Lynn

SALINAS POLICE LAUNCH PROGRAM

TO COMBAT DUI DEATHS AND INJURIES

The Salinas Police Department has been awarded a DUI Enforcement and Awareness grant from the California State Office of Traffic Safety for a year-long program aimed at preventing deaths and injuries on our roadways. New enforcement measures to combat impaired driving are the result of a recent $186,389 grant awarded to the Salinas Police Department by the California Office of Traffic Safety. The Salinas Police Department is dedicated to keeping our streets safe through both enforcement and education.

“Driving under the influence of alcohol is a crime of immense proportions,” said Salinas PD Chief of Police, Louis Fetherolf. “Too many lives are lost, too much property damaged, and too many families left to grieve over the loss of loved ones; these are just a few of the devastating conditions resulting from persons driving vehicles while intoxicated. It is a national tragedy.”

The special DUI Enforcement and Awareness program is designed to reduce the number of persons killed and injured in alcohol and other drug-related collisions. The grant specifically targets impaired driving offenders as well as educates the public on the dangers of impaired driving. This is accomplished through DUI/driver’s license checkpoints, warrant searches and stakeouts for repeat DUI offenders, saturation patrols, and court stings targeting DUI offenders with suspended or revoked driver licenses who get behind the wheel after leaving court.

Drunk driving is one of America’s deadliest crimes. In 2008, over 11,700 people died in highway crashes involving a driver or motorcycle operator with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08 or higher.

“Last year in California 1,029 died in alcohol impaired crashes, a 9 percent reduction in deaths from 2007,” said Christopher J. Murphy, Director of the Office of Traffic Safety. “This grant will help keep that trend going by getting drunk drivers off the roadways of Salinas, making it safer for everyone.”

Funding for the grant comes from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

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