Crime & Safety

DUI Patrols Planned thru Jan. 5 in Palm Desert, Indian Wells, Rancho Mirage

Deputies are planning stepped-up DUI enforcement in Palm Desert, Indian Wells and Rancho Mirage through Jan. 5, a sheriff's sergeant said Tuesday.

"DUI Saturation Patrols will deploy from tonight until January 5, 2014, between the hours of 5:00 PM and 3:00 AM," Sgt. Dave Adams of the Palm Desert Station said in a statement Dec. 17.

Here's more from the Sheriff's Department:

Officers from the Palm Desert Sheriff's Station will be out in greater numbers for special DUI enforcement programs within the contract cities of Palm Desert, Indian Wells and Rancho Mirage. These specialized DUI Enforcement Teams will be deploying additional officers in each of these three cities to stop and arrest alcohol and drug-impaired drivers in the Department's ongoing traffic safety campaign.

In addition to DUI saturation patrols, a sobriety checkpoint is scheduled in Palm Desert "in an area with high frequencies of DUI collisions and/or arrests" from 7 p.m. Dec. 31 to 3 a.m. Jan. 1, Adams said.

"DUI can impact the economy in addition to the pain and suffering of those immediately affected," Adams said. "Conservatively, a fatality has a $1.4 million impact, an injury $70,000, and a crash that only damages property averages nearly $9000. From January 1, 2010, DUI collisions have claimed 7 lives and resulted in 86 injury crashes harming 153 of our friends and neighbors."

For more info on holiday DUI enforcement in Riverside County see

Multi-Agency DUI Crackdown Across Riverside County thru Jan. 1


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