State Grant to Fund DUI Checkpoints
With the help of state grant money, the Oxnard Police Department is beefing up checkpoints to catch drunk drivers.
The $300,000 grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety will allow the department to double the number of checkpoints, said Oxnard Traffic Officer Ken Klopman. The Port Hueneme Police Department will share a portion of the grant, Klopman said.
Oxnard qualified for the money in part because of the high number of drunken driving accidents and arrests. In 1994, Oxnard had the highest number of DUI related accidents of any city its size, Klopman said.
Since then, though, the department has had an aggressive sobriety checkpoint program, which he believes helped reduce the number of DUI-related accidents by as much as 35%. The money will also be used to set up a coalition of concerned residents and business owners who will work on heightening awareness of drunken driving.
“We want to make changes in public attitudes,” Klopman said. “Anything from asking the manager of one of those gas station mini-marts not to have those big stacks of beer next to the doorway because it sends the wrong message about drinking and driving.”
Over the next two years, the grant money will be used to pay for at least 48 sobriety checkpoints, Klopman said. The grant will also cover the cost of two new motorcycles, laser speed guns, 11 new breath-testing devices and a radar speed trailer for the Port Hueneme Police Department.
On Oct. 26, as part of its stepped-up enforcement, the Police Department will be setting up a checkpoint in the city’s downtown area.
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