An unfortunate side-effect of the wonderful holiday season is added consumption of alcohol, increased driving under the influence (DUI) behavior and severely-increased police vigilance.
Over the holiday season, law enforcement agencies arrested dozens of people who they believe drove drunk or under the influence of drugs on in Larimer County, Colorado. As reported in www.coloradoan.com.
Fort Collins Police officers made 20 DUI arrests between Nov. 30 and Dec. 10; 22 DUI arrests between Dec. 11 and 27; and 17 arrests over the New Year’s weekend, Dec. 28 to Jan. 2 Does that seem high to you? I mean 59 DUI arrests in just about one month!
Throughout December, Fort Collins’ neighbor, Loveland Police Department tallied 27 arrests linked with driving under the influence of alcohol and four related to driving under the influence of drugs. On New Year’s Eve, there were nine alcohol-related DUI arrests and one drug-related DUI arrest, followed by a single vehicle crash on the morning of New Year’s day. That too seems awfully high – 36 more DUI in a relatively small town.
Larimer County Sheriff’s Office deputies made 41 DUI arrests between Dec. 1 and 27 and 15 DUI arrests from Dec. 28 to Jan. 2. Again, we are looking at 56 arrests in one month in a small geographic region.
I know Colorado is very diligent about both arresting and prosecuting Dui behavior. It also is proactive in ordering Colorado alcohol awareness classes to help prevent recidivism.