Police add patrols for New Year’s Eve

Police in Merced County plan to beef up patrols ahead of New Year’s festivities, but hope residents will drink responsibly and avoid arrests and collisions related to drunken driving.

“Everybody likes to celebrate, but many people still don’t realize how quickly that celebrating can turn into something unsafe,” said Sgt. Jay Struble, head of the Merced Police Department’s traffic division.

“Those (DUI arrests) are very expensive. Between court fines, DMV fines and penalties, lawyer fees and everything else, it can cost upward of $10,000. And insurance rates will go up, too,” he said.

Struble noted that even first-time DUI offenders lose their driver’s license for a minimum of 30 days.

No drunken-driving checkpoints are scheduled in Merced County, but additional officers will be on patrol in Merced and many other communities in the county, law enforcement officials confirmed.

“When you look at the cost of getting a DUI compared to calling a cab or having someone – a parent, a friend – pick you up, it’s a lot cheaper and a lot smarter to avoid going to jail,” Struble said.

Drunken-driving related arrests over the December holidays are already up in Merced compared with last year. During the 2013 DUI crackdown, which ran from Dec. 14, 2013, to Jan. 1, 2014, 11 people were arrested. During the same period this year, Merced police have made 14 arrests.

The California Highway Patrol will also have more officers on the streets in many areas of Merced County as part of a nearly weeklong maximum enforcement period.

“Additional officers will be working the roads actively looking for DUI drivers,” Officer Moises Onsurez said.

The CHP’s maximum enforcement period begins Wednesday and runs through Monday. During the same period in 2013, the CHP reported three drunken-driving related collisions in Merced County and made 12 arrests.

“People either don’t realize or don’t consider the impact a (DUI-related) crash can have on the families and friends of the victims,” Struble said. “It doesn’t just affect you or the person you hit; it impacts everyone close to those people, and it’s all completely and totally avoidable.”

This story was originally published December 30, 2014 at 7:46 PM with the headline "Police add patrols for New Year’s Eve."