By Shari Kaplan
Police from Daly City to Gilroy participating in the Avoid the 13/Avoid the 23 campaign reported arresting 220 individuals for driving under the influence of alcohol or other drugs over the long Labor Day weekend.
Of the arrests, 151 took place in Santa Clara County and 69 in San Mateo County. There were three alcohol-related injuries but no fatalities during the crackdown period, which began at 6 p.m. Aug. 30 and ended at midnight Sept. 2. During this period, police and sheriff's departments and the California Highway Patrol set up sobriety checkpoints in both counties and increased the numbers of car and motorcycle patrols on city streets and freeways.
Los Gatos police provided an extra patrol car on both the swing and graveyard shifts during the Labor Day weekend. According to Los Gatos police Sgt. Michael Yorks, there were three DUI arrests during this period. This is the same number of arrests the LGPD made during the Labor Day weekend last year.
According to Chief Charles Arolla of the Santa Clara Police Department, arrests in Santa Clara County were up 20 percent over last year's 126. This is the second year the Avoid the 13/Avoid the 23 campaigns have included the Labor Day weekend--the last holiday weekend of summer. The traditional Christmas and New Year's campaign will begin its 20-day run on Dec. 13 and end on Jan. 1, 1997.
Avoid the 13, now entering its 23rd year, is sponsored by the Police Chiefs Association of Santa Clara County. Avoid the 23, entering its sixth year, is sponsored by the Police Chiefs Association of San Mateo County. Both campaigns are funded by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety.
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, September 11, 1996.
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