NEWS RELEASE

HUNTSVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT

815 Wheeler Ave.

Huntsville, Alabama  35801

Huntsville Police Department’s DUI Labor Day Blitz Period Planned
 

Huntsville, Alabama (August 20, 2009) The Huntsville Police Department announced today it will join other police departments throughout the country in support of the 2009 Drunk Driving, Over the Limit, Under Arrest crackdown on impaired driving. The campaign is organized by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), and regionally administered by the North Alabama Traffic Safety Office (NATSO). This year’s campaign will begin August 21^st and continue through September 7^th 2009; the Labor Day Holiday Weekend.

On August 21, 2009, the Huntsville Police Department’s D.U.I. Task Force will join the Alabama State Troopers, Madison County Sheriff’s Office, Madison, New Hope, Owens Cross Roads, and Gurley Police Departments in conjunction with the Tennessee Highway Patrol and the Lincoln County Tennessee Sheriff’s Office in a Hands Across the Border traffic safety checkpoint. This enforcement event will concentrate on the interdiction of impaired drivers as a kickoff to the Drunk Driving, Over the Limit, Under Arrest campaign. The check point will also target other types of traffic violations such as not wearing seat belts, driving with invalid driver’s license and no proof of insurance. Officers from these agencies will cooperate to stop impaired drivers on both sides of the Alabama/Tennessee State line with the goal of sending a clear and unmistakable message that impaired driving will not be tolerated.

The Huntsville Police Department’s D.U.I. Task Force supervisor, Sergeant Jeffery Rice states, “The mission of the Departments D.U.I. Task Force is to strictly and vigorously enforce the law and to educate the public on the dangers of drinking and driving.”  The D.U.I. Task Force has consistently ranked as the number one D.U.I. enforcement squad in Alabama over the past eleven years. In 2008, officers with the Huntsville Police Department made 1,712 D.U.I. arrests.

The D.U.I. Task Force will set up safety checkpoints throughout the City of Huntsville at announced and unannounced locations. Members of the Special Operations Division along with Uniformed Patrol Officers from each precinct will also participate by maintaining aggressive traffic enforcement activities at various NATSO “HOT SPOT” locations.

Additional DUI Checkpoints will be announced during this blitz period throughout Huntsville. These locations will include but not be limited to roadways such as Drake Avenue, Jordan Lane, University Drive, Bob Wallace Avenue, Bailey Cove Road, Andrew Jackson Way, Sparkman Drive, Pulaski Pike and Cecil Ashburn Drive.