Long Beach police officers will be on the lookout for traffic violations and impaired drivers this weekend when they beef up their presence in areas throughout the city known to have frequent DUI collisions or arrests.
The Long Beach Police Department (LBPD) DUI Enforcement Team will deploy its saturation patrol officers on Saturday night between 7PM and 3AM, police said.
They will conduct traffic stops and impaired driver investigations when appropriate, LBPD spokeswoman Megan Zabel said.
A release issued Thursday by the LBPD said DUI collisions have caused nine deaths and 315 injury crashes in the last three years in Long Beach. The release also stated that 2012 statewide figures showed an increase in DUI-related fatalities, to 802, after “falling dramatically” the previous five years.
A DUI-related fatality has a $1.4 million impact, while a DUI-related injury has a $70,000 impact, and a crash that only damages property averages nearly $9,000, according to police statistics.
This program is funded from a grant by the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.