Super Bowl Sunday DUI patrol planned

Super Bowl revelers beware: police will be out in force Sunday with eye for inebriated drivers.

Glendale police on Sunday plan to crackdown on drivers who are under the influence of drugs or alcohol as part of a roving citywide anti-DUI campaign.

Patrolling officers will scatter throughout the city in addition to targeting areas with the highest number of DUI-involved collisions, said Police Traffic and Air Support Lt. Steve Robertson. Law enforcement throughout Los Angeles County will also conduct roving DUI patrols.

“I would love for us to not have a single DUI traffic-related collision,” Robertson said.

But if history is any indication, Robertson said recent DUI trends in Glendale show the collisions are likely to happen.

DUI-related traffic collisions have been on the rise for the past four years, he added.

Police made 732 drunk driving arrests last year, up from 639 in 2010, according to Police Department crime statistics.

The increase has prompted Glendale police officials to establish a DUI team, which patrols on certain days and times in neighborhoods with the most DUI traffic-related issues.

The team, which began operating Jan. 3, focuses on taking DUI drivers off Glendale streets, identifying repeat offenders and conducting surveillance and serving arrest warrants, Robertson said.

Glendale traffic officers arrested 41 motorists in January on suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol. They arrested another 53 drivers in connection with narcotics, outstanding warrants, driver’s license offenses and infractions.

-- Veronica Rocha, Times Community News

Twitter: @veronicarochaLA