CHP launches program aimed at reducing alcohol-related crashes
TEMECULA -- A mobile command center that will make its debut inSouthwest Riverside County tonight is part of an effort by theCalifornia Highway Patrol to keep more drunken drivers off theroad.
The Border Deuce project, which gets its name from policeparlance for driving under the influence, is intended to allow theCHP to make more arrests by putting more officers on the roads whoare dedicated to pulling over impaired drivers and establishing afaster way to process those arrested.
The mobile command center has equipment to test theblood-alcohol level of drivers whom officers suspect are drivingunder the influence. Officers can start booking suspects at themobile unit, where they will stay until a van takes them as a groupto the Southwest Detention Center in French Valley.
"Before, an officer would have to drive the suspect to the jail,which is about a half-hour drive from anywhere, then have to staythere to book the suspect," CHP Officer Ron Thatcher said Friday."This way, the officer can get back out on the road and make morearrests."
By pulling more drunken drivers off the streets, CHP officialsare hoping to reduce the number of alcohol-related crashes by 15percent throughout the Border Division, which includes San DiegoCounty and parts of Orange and Riverside counties.
Temecula is one of the areas within the division that has thehighest number of alcohol-related crashes, Lt. Sandra Houstonsaid.
According to CHP statistics, since January 1998, there have been474 alcohol-related crashes on freeways and state highways in theTemecula service area that stretches from Highway 76 to Highway 74,and from Anza to the Orange County line.
In the last 12 months, the CHP arrested roughly 1,400 people onsuspicion of driving under the influence.
The program is funded by a $627,000 grant from the NationalHighway Traffic Safety Administration and the state Office ofTraffic Safety and includes money to hold 48 task force operationsthis year.
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