Stepped-up DUI patrols planned for Sonoma County on St. Patrick's Day

Authorities will be on special lookout for intoxicated revelers today.|
JULIE JOHNSON
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

A band of roving patrol officers will be driving Sonoma County roads Tuesday looking for DUI drivers.

Ten officers will spend their St. Patrick's Day out on the streets in several areas of the county, keeping watch for intoxicated drivers, as part of the Avoid the 13 Sonoma County DUI Task Force, Sgt. Mike Numainville said.

These officers will be solely making traffic stops in an attempt to get intoxicated drivers off the streets and will be working separately from other officers responding to calls for service and other routine work.

Statewide, 31 people died in drunken-driving crashes on St. Patrick's Day in 2013, according to Numainville. He did not provide statistics for Santa Rosa or Sonoma County, or statistics from last year.

Numainville urged partygoers to plan ahead.

The special patrols are funded by a grant from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration administered by California's Office of Traffic Safety.

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