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Road Warrior

Trying to make sense out of getting around

Cinco de Mayo DUI crackdown

Thursday, at 6:37 by

Police across Sonoma County on Saturday will be sending out extra officers targeting DUI drivers on Cinco de Mayo. The added enforcement, which begins at noon, is part of the county’s Avoid the 13 DUI Task Force in which all police agencies in the county belong to. The CHP also will send out saturation patrols. “Cinco de Mayo is a special opportunity to gather with friends and co-workers for chips, salsa and margaritas, celebrating California’s rich cultural diversity.  It is… Read More »

DUI crackdown this St. Patrick’s weekend

Thursday, at 2:26 by

Extra police officers will out on patrol this weekend looking for DUI drivers. It’s part of Sonoma County’s anti-DUI Avoid the 13 task force, and it’s being conducted this weekend because Saturday is St. Patrick’s Day, a time when some people celebrate a bit too much and then drive. The extra officers will hit the streets at 6 p.m. Friday, with the extra enforcement ending at 6 a.m. Sunday. “Whether you are meeting a few friends at the local pub… Read More »

2 DUI/license checkpoints this weekend

Friday, at 7:43 by

Sonoma County’s anti-DUI task force wraps up its annual winter holiday crackdown this weekend with two DUI/license checkpoints. Officers from police agencies in the county also will be out on special DUI patrols, looking for DUI suspects, searching for those with DUI warrants and conducting random DUI probation and parole checks of those convicted of drunken driving. As is typical, the Avoid the 13 task force won’t say where or what nights the two checkpoints will be. But any checkpoint… Read More »

Anti-DUI patrols hit Sonoma County roads Friday night

Friday, at 2:45 by

Going out drinking tonight? Maybe just a few glasses of wine over dinner? Beware. Sonoma County’s Avoid the 13 anti-DUI task force will be out in force Friday night looking for DUI suspects. The patrols involving 25 officers from 13 of the county’s police agencies will start a bit after 5 p.m. and will last until 3 a.m. Saturday. The extra enforcement is part of the task force’s Christmas-New Year’s Eve campaign targeting drunken drivers. Since Dec. 16, when the… Read More »

DUI crackdown getting under way in Sonoma County

Friday, at 7:07 by

Sonoma County’s anti-DUI task force is launching its annual, winter holiday crackdown with a DUI checkpoint planned for this weekend. The Avoid the 13 task force also will send out teams of police officers on patrols specifically looking for DUI suspects, conducting probation and parole checks of those convicted of DUI and serving DUI warrants. “There will be no spreading holiday cheer behind the bars of a jail cell,” Petaluma Police Chief Dan Fish said in a statement. “Don’t let… Read More »

Anti-DUI task force gets $300,000

Thursday, at 5:18 by

Sonoma County’s anti-DUI campaign will continue after the state awarded a $300,000 grant for the Avoid the 13 task force. The task force, which includes all police agencies in the county and is coordinated by Petaluma police, had a three-year grant of $659,000 that ended Sept. 30. The money pays for various anti-DUI operations, such as checkpoints and saturation patrols, and covers the overtime of officers participating in the operations. Petaluma Sgt. Ken Savano, who is in his fourth year… Read More »

DUI crackdown this Halloween weekend

Friday, at 3:02 by

Extra officers will be on the roads this Halloween weekend looking for DUI suspects as part of a Sonoma County-wide crackdown. Petaluma Police Sgt. Ken Savano, who coordinates the county’s anti-DUI Avoid the 13 task force, said all police agencies will beef up patrols with officers assigned to specifically look for DUI suspects. The stepped-up enforcement begins Friday night and goes through Halloween night on Monday. No checkpoints are planned. “There isn’t a Halloween costume clever enough to hide an… Read More »

Santa Rosa DUI checkpoint

Friday, at 11:24 by

The first indication of Friday night’s DUI/license checkpoint in Santa Rosa were the half dozen or so protesters holding reflective signs saying “RETEN” in Spanish for checkpoint. But before drivers knew it, they were being funneled amid flashing police lights into one lane on eastbound Fourth Street in front of the Safeway shopping center. A line of police officers from various local cities greeted them, checking each of the 1,550 drivers stopped for signs of impairment from alcohol or drugs… Read More »

DUI checkpoint Thursday in Santa Rosa

Thursday, at 3:25 by

Santa Rosa police Thursday will hold a DUI/license checkpoint as part of a two-week crackdown by Sonoma County’s Avoid the 13 anti-DUI task force. The checkpoint will be 7 p.m. Thursday to 1 a.m. Friday at a location that police aren’t revealing. The Avoid the 13 task force has held two checkpoints during its current campaign, both in Petaluma, with three drivers arrested on suspicion of DUI on Aug. 19 and four arrested on Aug. 20. The task force plans… Read More »

DUI checkpoint tonight

Thursday, at 11:49 by

A DUI/license checkpoint will be held Friday night and another Saturday night in Sonoma County as part of the countywide Avoid the 13 task force’s end-of-summer DUI crackdown. While authorities haven’t said where the checkpoints will be, it’s a good bet that one of them will be in Petaluma because police there typically have one during these crackdowns. The task force holds four, two-week crackdowns a year and points to the lack of any fatal DUI crashes since 2008 as… Read More »