Santa Barbara County Cinco De Mayo Weekend Enforcement Results

Guadalupe - May 5th, 2008

GUADALUPE POLICE, AVOID THE 12 TASK FORCE
SET SOBRIETY CHECKPOINT, SATURATION PATROLS
FOR CINCO DE MAYO WEEKEND, MAY 3 AND 4

Police made three DUI arrests and impounded 15 cars on 30-day holds during a Cinco de Mayo weekend operation in Guadalupe.

Officers staffed a Saturday night checkpoint and a daytime Sunday saturation patrol, said Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Deputy Win Smith, Avoid the 12 coordinator.

The anti-DUI operation included officers from the Guadalupe Police Dept. and Avoid the 12 task force members from the Sheriff’s Dept., UCSB, Allan Hancock College, Lompoc and Santa Maria.  Avoid the 12, the countywide DUI crackdown, targets celebrations that involve alcohol.
Officers also screened 496 cars that drove through the checkpoint and stopped 10 cars during the saturation patrol.

No DUI arrests were made at the checkpoint, but officers received a radio transmission that another driver had spotted a car that ran into a pole and kept driving.  Two officers broke away from the checkpoint, found the car, and arrested the driver for DUI.

“Numerous DUI related collisions have occurred on the roads going into Guadalupe, so there are several signs that ask drivers to report DUIs.  We congratulate the woman who did the reporting; she could have easily saved a life," Smith said.

At the checkpoint, held on Main St. at Obispo St., officers arrested a man for driving without a license, and, in searching him before booking him into jail, found Ecstasy pills in his pocket.  One of the man’s passengers was on probation for selling the drug.  He was found to be carrying more Ecstasy pills in his backpack and was also arrested.

Officers on Sunday patrols arrested a man who drove his four-year-old son to a rodeo that turned out to be cancelled.  Officers arrested him for DUI, being an unlicensed driver and child endangerment.

Avoid the 12 hits the roads again over the long Memorial Day weekend, May 23 to 26. The California Office of Traffic Safety funds it through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.