State Grant to Fund DUI Task Force
A newly formed task force will step up efforts to curb drunk driving accidents in Orange County.
Sixteen law enforcement agencies in the county are part of the organization, which is being funded by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety. Santa Ana won the $592,000 grant and will serve as the county’s host agency. The program will be announced at a news conference Jan. 25 in Santa Ana.
“The whole goal is to present a united image to the drunk drivers in Orange County,” said Santa Ana Police Sgt. Bill Ehart, who wrote the grant application.
The task force will increase the number of law enforcement officers patrolling streets and sobriety checkpoints. The first checkpoint is scheduled for February in Brea.
Task force members also will make school presentations.
According to Ehart, 5.59% of the licensed drivers in the state are younger than 21, but they account for 8% of those arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol.
Officials from the Garden Grove Police Department, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, the California Highway Patrol, the district attorney’s office, the state’s Office of Traffic Safety, Mothers Against Drunk Driving and the Orange County Health Care Agency are among those expected at the news conference. It will begin at 10 a.m. in the community room of the Santa Ana Police Department, at Civic Center Drive and Boyd Way.
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