Every available CHP officer will be on patrol this Christmas weekend, particularly looking for holiday partyers who’ve had too much to drink.

The stepped up enforcement is statewide with a goal of putting 80 percent of CHP officers on the roads. For Sonoma County’s office, CHP Officer Jon Sloat said that translates to about 50 officers.

Even though it’s Christmas, “it’s business as usual” for the CHP, he said.

He said the CHP so far this month has arrested 83 DUI suspects in Sonoma County, the same number as at this point last December.

A surprise this year, he said, is that an unusually high number of drivers are being busted for DUI during weekdays, with six on Thursday alone.

“People are starting to party early,” Sloat said. “There are more DUIs out there at all hours of the day.”

The extra patrols begin at 6:01 p.m. Friday and go through midnight Monday. A similar, extra enforcement will be conducted New Year’s weekend.

In addition to DUI suspects, officers will be looking for speeders, those not wearing seat belts and those texting or using hand-held cellphones.

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