Checkpoint Strikeforce campaign begins this weekend

Dover – The Delaware Office of Highway Safety along with law enforcement across the state are cracking down on impaired driving and launching the 13^th Annual Checkpoint Strikeforce campaign this holiday weekend and reminding motorists a DUI is a criminal offense you can’t hide from.  Last year alcohol was involved in 51% of the 110 fatal crashes, which resulted in 60 individuals killed.

The first Checkpoint Strikeforce checkpoints of the season are scheduled for:

            Friday July 5th – Wilmington – (NcCo DUI Task Force) – checkpoint                                     

Saturday July 6th –  Dover -(DSP Troop 3)- checkpoint                              

There are fifty-six (56) sobriety checkpoints scheduled to take place during the six month long Checkpoint Strikeforce campaign.  There will also be stepped up enforcement during peak holiday times including Labor Day, Halloween, and the month of December with additional DUI saturation patrols statewide.

Fortunately Delaware has seen a decrease in the number of alcohol-related fatalities this year compared to this time last year.  Seventeen (17) of this year’s 49 traffic deaths (35%) have been alcohol-related.  At this time last year there were 46 fatalities and 48% involved alcohol.

The New Castle County DUI Task Force will again be conducting sobriety checkpoints throughout the county during the campaign.  The DUI Task Force is comprised of officers from the Middletown PD, New Castle City PD, New Castle County PD, Newark PD, Newport PD, University of Delaware PD, and Wilmington PD.   Delaware State Police will also participate as part of this Task Force. This year, OHS has partnered with Georgetown PD, Rehoboth Beach PD, and Milford PD to coordinate checkpoints within their town limits throughout the next six months.

Attorney General Beau Biden conducted one swearing in ceremony for law enforcement participating in the New Castle County DUI Task Force this year. The swearing-in ceremony conducted by the Attorney General provide the legal justification necessary to allow police officers to make DUI arrests in towns outside their own jurisdiction.

The campaign’s enforcement activities will be supplemented by an all new intense public awareness and education campaign that highlight the fact that a DUI follows you everywhere with paid messages in the form of T.V., radio spots, billboards, print, online, Pandora, movie theater ads, ice chest wraps, store floor clings, and website www.DUIRealTime.com.  Paid messages will also be included in Spanish print and radio ads.  OHS will tally the total number of DUI arrests made each week in Delaware and display the total on one featured billboard in New Castle County and Sussex County and on the website DUIRealTime.com.  The featured billboards are located at Wilmington I-95 southbound and Georgetown Route 113 northbound.   OHS’s corporate partners will also receive flyers, posters, and table tents to display and help spread the message.

Those convicted of a first time DUI offense in Delaware may spend up to 1 year in prison, and will lose their license, attend an 8-week DUI treatment class and pay thousands of dollars in court, treatment, DMV, and lawyer’s fees.

Checkpoint Strikeforce is a regional sobriety checkpoint campaign aimed at arresting DUI offenders by using high visibility enforcement to deter those who would otherwise choose to drink and drive.  The campaign is a six month long effort coordinated locally by the Delaware Office of Highway Safety and involves setting up weekly DUI checkpoints & patrols statewide.  Officers participating in the 2012 campaign made 327 DUI arrests.

For more information and resources on Checkpoint Strikeforce visit www.ohs.delaware.gov/checkpointstrikeforce, www.DUIRealTime.com and follow regular campaign updates on Twitter at www.twitter.com/DEHighwaySafe, Facebook www.facebook.com/ArriveAliveDE, and campaign commercials subscribe to YouTube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/DelawareOHS.

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