Grant Funding Supporting Ongoing DUI Enforcement Efforts

The latest sobriety checkpoint over Labor Day weekend showed something that even police weren’t expecting: no DUI drivers.

The effort saw cops observe drivers in more than 1,000 vehicles without a single incident of people driving over the legal limit, Berlin Deputy Chief John Klett said. To keep that kind of result, however, the effort must continue, he said.

Moving forward, the department will be conducting random checkpoints and roving patrols, with the first coming this week on Thursday and Friday evening, the department said in a press release on Monday.

“The purpose of these patrols and checkpoints is to reduce accidents and injuries related to DUI drivers and help provide safe travel,” Klett said.

“As part of this program DUI sobriety checkpoints will be conducted on the evenings of Thursday Sept. 12 and Friday Sept.13, 2013. The checkpoints will be set up on the Berlin Turnpike south of Deming Road.”

The patrols are done in conjunction with grant extensions recently received from the Connecticut Department of Transportation’s Highway Safety Division. The division provided a grant, funding 75 percent of costs for the checkpoints, from Thanksgiving 2012 through Labor Day 2013. That grant has been extended, officials said.

Additional DUI patrols will be conducted on Wednesday through Saturday nights through on selected dates and times during the coming year, he said. These patrols will specifically target DUI operation but will also enforce any other violations observed during the course of this operation.

“Roadside sobriety checkpoints have been shown to be the most effective method to detect and apprehend under the influence drivers.” Klett said.

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