DUI enforcement campaign setup for Christmas and New Years Eve holidays

RENO -- Local law enforcement agencies are warning drivers that they'll be out in full force trying to crack down on DUIs over the Christmas and New Years Eve holidays.

The Sparks Police Department is joining with other local agencies in an aggressive DUI enforcement campaign over the Christmas and New Years Eve holidays.  All of the local agencies are adding additional officers to the streets to conduct DUI saturation patrols in the hopes that they can find and arrest any impaired drivers before they are involved in a traffic collision.

The additional officers were funded by grants that were provided to the agencies by the Department of Public Safety, Office of Traffic Safety. 

Impaired driving is one of America's most often committed and deadliest crimes.  In 2009, 68 people were killed in Nevada traffic crashes that involved at least one driver or motorcycle rider with a blood alcohol concentration of .08 or higher.  In the city of Sparks we have had five fatal traffic crashes reported in 2011, four of which involved alcohol.