State Police Renew Program Aimed at Arresting Impaired Drivers

Initiative Produced More Than 4,600 DUI Arrests During First Two Years

HARRISBURG, Pa., Oct. 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Pennsylvania State Police is continuing a program that has resulted in 4,652 DUI arrests during the past two years, Commissioner Frank E. Pawlowski announced today.

"The Checkpoint Strikeforce Program was instituted in October 2008 as a one-year initiative to reduce crashes, prevent injuries and save lives by identifying and arresting impaired drivers on our roads," Pawlowski said. "The program was renewed last October and we've decided to extend it for at least another year."

The enforcement effort is supported by federal funding obtained through the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.

Pawlowski said each of the 15 regional state police troops will conduct sobriety checkpoints within its troop area on at least 20 weekends through August 2011.  During inclement weather, troops conduct roving DUI patrols rather than a checkpoint.

Troopers have made 3,347 arrests as the direct result of checkpoints and 1,305 DUI arrests as the result of roving patrols conducted during the first two years of the initiative.

Pawlowski said the checkpoint locations are determined by commanders based on up-to-date crash data collected by the department's PROphecy computer system and other sources.

"We focus our attention on areas that have experienced a high number of DUI-related crashes," said Pawlowski, who noted that state police made a record 16,900 DUI arrests in 2009.

For more information, visit www.psp.state.pa.us or call 717-783-5556.

Editor's Note:  Following is a breakdown, by state police troop area, of the number of DUI arrests made during the first two years of the Checkpoint Strikeforce Program:

• Troop A (Cambria, Indiana, Somerset and Westmoreland counties), 325 arrests;
• Troop B (Allegheny, Fayette, Greene and Washington counties), 438 arrests;
• Troop C (Clarion, Clearfield, Forest, Elk, Jefferson and McKean counties), 167 arrests;
• Troop D (Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Lawrence and Mercer counties), 362 arrests;
• Troop E (Crawford, Erie, Venango and Warren counties), 221 arrests;
• Troop F (Cameron, Clinton, Lycoming, Montour, Northumberland, Potter, Snyder, Union and Tioga counties), 194 arrests;
• Troop G (Bedford, Blair, Centre, Fulton, Huntingdon, Juniata and Mifflin counties), 195 arrests;
• Troop H (Adams, Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Perry and York counties), 502 arrests;
• Troop J (Chester and Lancaster counties), 531 arrests;
• Troop K (Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties), 350 arrests;
• Troop L (Berks, Lebanon and Schuylkill counties), 240 arrests;
• Troop M (Bucks, Lehigh and Northampton counties), 329 arrests;t
• Troop N (Carbon, Columbia, Monroe and part of Luzerne counties), 275 arrests;
• Troop P (Bradford, Sullivan, Wyoming and part of Luzerne counties), 196 arrests;
• Troop R (Lackawanna, Pike, Susquehanna and Wayne counties), 327 arrests,

Media contact: Lt. Myra A. Taylor or Jack J. Lewis, 717-783-5556

SOURCE Pennsylvania State Police Department