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DWI enforcement continues through New Year’s Day
BY DANNY GALLAGHER, McKinney Courier-Gazette
Everyone from the local police departments to the county district judges will be out in force on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day looking for people who’ve had too much to drink at a party and decided to drive themselves home anyway.
The Collin County District Attorney’s Office, the Collin County district courts and the local county and city law enforcement departments will be working together to catch and prosecute DWI cases during the high-traffic New Year’s holiday, said McKinney Police Department and Collin County Sheriff’s Office officials.
McKinney police Capt. Randy Roland said the DA’s office is working with the district courts and local law enforcement on all local DWI cases. He said the DA’s office will be requesting search warrants from judges to obtain blood samples for intoxication tests for arrests made during the New Year’s holiday.
“[The DA’s office} is working with all of Collin County’s law enforcement to get judges to fax search warrants for blood,” Roland said. “So if you get arrested for DWI, you will be giving blood.”
Roland also said the department will have more officers on the street to look for DWIs.
“We will be out in force on New Years’ Eve and throughout the weekend,” Roland said.
The McKinney PD received a $10,000 selective traffic enforcement program (STEP) grant from the Texas Department of Transportation to put extra officers on patrols to watch for drivers who’ve had too much to drink during Christmas, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, McKinney Assistant Police Chief Rex Redden said.
Redden said the McKinney PD regularly seeks grants from the state transportation agency.
“We’re pretty active with TxDOT and the grants they have with seat belts and DWI enforcement,” Redden said. “We try to do as much as we can with them.”
The McKinney PD’s patrol department put together a team of five to six officers with the experience and training specifically to look for drunken drivers on McKinney’s roads. The extra patrols will be on the streets through Jan. 1, 2008, throughout the city during the peak driving times for the holiday season, Redden said.
Lt. John Norton, of the Collin County Sheriff’s Office, also said they will call in extra officers to monitor driving conditions during the New Years’ holiday. He said the department will call in all their reserve officers in addition to their regular deputies to patrol the streets.
“Everyone’s going to be on duty,” Norton said. “No one’s allowed to take any time off. It’s usually a pretty busy night.”
Attempts were made to reach Assistant District Attorney Greg Davis, but he could not be reached by presstime.
Contact Danny Gallagher at dgallagher@acnpapers.com. To post comments online, access this story on the Web at www.scntx.com.
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