September 4, 2007
Valdosta - Labor day weekend, Valdosta Police were seen at almost every corner, saturating the city in search of drunk drivers and seat belt violators. And their plan seemed to work. Police say they had no DUI arrests or fatalities and that the patrols will now be a common sight throughout the city.
For the first time in more than a decade, the Valdosta Police Department has a full traffic unit. And the extra manpower means more patrols. "We're going to be flooding the streets trying to put as much deterrents and detection as possible," says Commander Brian Childress of the Valdosta Police.
They hope these new efforts will help reduce traffic fatalities in the city by getting dangerous and drunk drivers off the road. "About two years ago we had nine traffic fatalities, the following year we got down to six and we are not even at six yet for this year," says Sgt Earl Durrance with the VPD Traffic Unit.
Their goal is zero and to get there they'll be increasing police training. "We do training here to teach our officers, not just traffic officers but any officer what to look for, indicators of impairment," Childress says.
Upping their road blocks. "One road side sobriety check per month. We just did one last weekend."
And travel to neighboring counties to help keep all the streets of South Georgia safe. "You may see several different uniforms at one location, targeting these drunk drivers and speeders," says Sgt. Durrance.
They say they'll have zero tolerance for drunk drivers as keeping the community safe is their top priority.
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