63 DUI arrests in weekend AVOID program

The Avoid the 13 DUI taskforce arrested 63 drivers countywide in
the four-day holiday weekend.
Law enforcement agencies throughout the county received funding
from the California Office of Traffic Safety to pay for saturation
patrols, special duty that sends patrol cars out into the community
looking specifically for drunk drivers. The maximum enforcement
period began on Friday, July 2 and ended at midnight on Monday,
July 5 and included three DUI checkpoints run by the California
Highway Patrol, the Santa Rosa Police Department and the Petaluma
Police Department.
“There were no fatal alcohol collisions in Sonoma County, but
sadly two people were injured in two separate alcohol related
crashes,” said Sgt. Ken Savano with the Petaluma Police Department,
the lead agency in the countywide program. “The first crash was in
Rohnert Park Friday night and the second was in Santa Rosa on
Saturday.
Savano said Tuesday that numbers were up — from 49 arrests in
2009 to 63 in 2010 — from last year’s Fourth of July weekend.
AVOID the 13 is a regional DUI enforcement program in Sonoma
County that is tasked with reducing alcohol-related fatalities and
injuries and to educate the public on the risks of drinking and
driving. Participating agencies include Police Departments from the
cities of Cloverdale, Cotati, Healdsburg, Petaluma, Rohnert Park,
Santa Rosa, Sebastopol, Sonoma, Windsor, the Sonoma County
Sheriff’s Department, Sonoma County Probation Department, Sonoma
State University Police Department, Santa Rosa Junior College
Police Department and the California Highway Patrol. 
Grant funded activities include DUI checkpoints, DUI saturation
patrols, DUI Task Force Operations and Warrant/Court Sting
operations for repeat DUI offenders during the Memorial Day, Fourth
of July, Labor Day, the winter holidays, and other designated
special events and holidays with identified DUI problems.