The Moscow Police Department plans to have additional patrols specifically looking for impaired drivers over the two-week period around Labor Day.
Moscow Chief of Police David Duke said the extra patrols are part of a national effort to reduce accidents resulting from impaired driving. He said Moscow doesn’t usually have a subsstantial increase in Driving Under the Influence charges, because much of the student population leaves town for the Labor Day Weekend.
“One significant part about it is, even though the students come back … we’ll see a large part of our student population leave for this weekend,” Duke said. “So it doesn’t affect us as much as it would those recreational areas that will see an increase in traffic, but we still are trying to meet the goal of ‘toward zero deaths’ that the state of Idaho pushes out to reduce drinking and driving accident-related deaths, as far as also reducing injuries.”
Lt. David Lehmitz said Moscow police and the Idaho Transportation Department have collaborated on in- creased holiday enforcement for about seven years. He said these ‘enforcement blitzes’ occur over most major holidays.
In preparation for Labor Day, Moscow Police will have impaired driving patrols from August 24 to September 5.
City Supervisor Gary Riedner said he thinks the increased enforcement is largely effective in deterring bad decisions.
“If they see a greater police pres- ence, then they, again, make the choice to obey the law,” he said. “I would say overall, just from an outsider looking in, that its had a positive effect on people’s behaviors.”
Lehmitz said the Transportation De- partment provides funding for police to send out extra patrols in two different ways — reimbursing for direct overtime for off-duty officers to come in, or by shuffling officers’ shifts around and collecting overtime pay.
Lehmitz said some of the increased enforcement funding goes toward upgrading or replacing existing equipment, such as radars, cameras and flashlights.
Duke said it’s important for people to remember that there are plenty of alternatives to impaired driving.
“If you do happen to drink, and get to the point where you’re impaired, seek alternative methods, which includes the sober driver, calling for friends to come by, or taxis, or just parking and walking to a safe location,” he said.
Lehmitz said the awareness cam- paign involved with this initiative is just as important as the arrests made by patrols. He said the patrols are heavily publicized, with the intention of en- couraging people not to drive.
“There is no place in Moscow that, if you consume alcohol, that you can’t walk within fifteen to twenty minutes,” he said. “We have numerous cab companies. It’s five dollars. They’ll take you anywhere in town for five bucks. It’s a pretty cheap way of transportation.”
Daphne Jackson can be reached at [email protected]