Officers in the Starke County Traffic Safety Partnership have been conducting impaired driving patrols since Aug. 16 in the state’s Operation Pullover Blitz #76.
Coordinator Dave Combs from the Knox City Police Department said the patrols have been successful.
“The national campaign this year is for the detection of drunk driving,” explained Combs. “This past Saturday we conducted a checkpoint here in Knox. As a result, I think we made five DUI arrests, a couple of narcotics arrests and one or two other criminal misdemeanors.”
The location of a checkpoint is based upon high visibility.
“That’s the goal of the checkpoint – to make it conspicuous to everybody. The whole point of a checkpoint is not necessarily to make arrests. It’s to deter drinking and driving.”
Officers from all Starke County departments will be out this weekend on saturation patrols.
“We’re going to try and at least have a couple of extra officers out every night specifically looking for intoxicated drivers.”
This Operation Pullover Blitz is expected to last through Monday, Sept. 2.
The Starke County Traffic Safety Partnership includes officers from the Knox, North Judson and Hamlet Police Departments along with the Starke County Sheriff’s Department.
