Sonoma County police departments to ramp up DUI surveillance over holidays

Several Sonoma County law enforcement agencies have announced plans to assign extra officers to patrol in search of intoxicated drivers over the next two weeks, officials said.

Those include the Santa Rosa Police Department and the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety, which both began the extra patrols on Wednesday and plan to continue through Jan. 1, according to announcements from both cities.

“The extra enforcement effort is part of a national campaign, Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over, with the goal of stopping suspected impaired drivers who put others on the road at risk,” the Santa Rosa department said in a Facebook post.

Officers will look for people suspected of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, according to the post.

The initiatives in both cities are funded by grants from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, officials said.

The California Highway Patrol will also assign extra officers statewide to look for drivers suspected of DUI in the coming days, according to Officer David deRutte.

Dubbed a “maximum enforcement period,” the CHP’s extra patrols are scheduled to begin Dec. 24 at 6:01 p.m. and continue through Dec. 26 at 11:59 p.m.

You can reach Staff Writer Matt Pera at matthew.pera@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @Matt__Pera.