Crime & Safety

El Cerrito Police to Drunk Drivers: 'Count on Spending the Holiday in Jail'

From the El Cerrito Police Department:

The El Cerrito Police Department will be conducting a sobriety checkpoint during the Christmas Holiday enforcement period with the assistance of the Richmond Police Department and the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Department on Friday, Dec. 20,” Traffic Sergeant Shawn Maples, said Wednesday. 

The sobriety checkpoint will be staffed by officers who are trained in the detection of alcohol and/or drug impaired drivers. Drug recognition experts will be on site to provide on-the-spot assessments of drivers suspected of drug use. The officers will also be equipped with state of the art hand-held breath testing devices which provide an accurate measure of blood alcohol concentration of suspected drunk drivers. 

"Each holiday season, members of our community are needlessly maimed and killed on California roadways. Our goal is to ensure the safe passage of each and every motorist by targeting areas where there is a high frequency of drunk drivers. A sobriety checkpoint is an effective tool for achieving this goal and is designed to augment the existing patrol operations. By publicizing our efforts we believe that we can deter motorists from drinking and driving” said Maples. 

Maples emphasized, “traffic volume permitting, all vehicles will be checked and drivers who are under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs can expect to be arrested and can count on celebrating the holiday in jail. Our objective is to send a clear message to those considering mixing alcohol and/or drugs with driving this holiday season-rest assured your local police departments will be keeping a watchful eye out for you.” 


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