Dover, DE – Delaware law enforcement officer arrested 17 individuals for Driving Under the Influence (DUI) of alcohol and/or drugs during week 21 of the 2009 Checkpoint Strikeforce campaign (Nov. 20 & 21). This brings the total number of DUI arrests for the campaign since its July 2nd launch to 364. Agencies conducting checkpoints last weekend included the New Castle County DUI Task Force, as well as the Dover Police Department and Delaware State Police Troop 3.
In addition to the 17 DUI arrests, officers cited 9 minors for underage drinking violations, apprehended 6 wanted individuals, made 21 drug arrests, 23 felony arrests, recovered 1 weapon, issued citations for 7 seat belt and 4 child restraint violations, and issued 72 citations for various other traffic violations.
As a reminder of how dangerous traffic enforcement can be law enforcement, the Dover Police report that a driver ran their Friday night checkpoint and nearly struck an officer. While attempting to turn onto Kings Highway he crashed into a fence. The driver was apprehended by PFC Peter Martinek. The Office of Highway Safety thanks all of our partners in law enforcement for putting their lives on the line while working to keep the public safe.
Four sobriety checkpoints are scheduled to occur the Thanksgiving Holiday weekend beginning with an 8 hour sobriety checkpoint on Wednesday Nov. 25th. The enforcement kicks off OHS’s 11th annual Safe Family Holiday campaign. The checkpoints are scheduled for:
Wednesday Nov. 25th – Wilmington (NcCo DUI Task Force)
Friday Nov 27th – Georgetown (Georgetown PD)
Saturday Nov. 28th – Southern DE beaches-Fenwick Island (DSP Troop 4) & Rehoboth Beach (Rehoboth Beach PD)
The 2009 Checkpoint Strikeforce campaign launched this year on July 2nd. Checkpoint Strikeforce is a regional sobriety checkpoint campaign aimed at arresting DUI offenders and deterring others from drinking and driving. Also in July of this year, Delaware Governor Jack Markell signed tougher penalties for DUI offenders into law. Now offenders, particularly those with fifth and subsequent offences, face increased fines when convicted of the crime. Additionally, Gov. Markell signed legislation that strengthened Delaware’s law related to Ignition Interlock devices for first time, High Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) offenders.
