St. Patrick's weekend to bring out extra police

3/16/2007

Law enforcement officers throughout northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan will participate in extra patrols of area roadways during the St. Patrick's Day weekend, looking for motorists driving under the influence and violations of speed, seat belt, and other traffic laws.

In Lucas County, the sheriff's office, Ohio Highway Patrol, and Holland police will conduct a sobriety checkpoint from 9:30 p.m. tomorrow to 2:30 a.m. Sunday in the 1400 block of South McCord Road just north of Airport Highway near the Spring Meadows shopping center.

Sheriff's offices in Allen, Erie, Hancock, Ottawa, and Van Wert counties have announced they will have extra deputies on patrol today and tomorrow.

During the weekend, the Ohio Highway Patrol is continuing to enforce seat belt violations with the What's Holding You Back?/Click It or Ticket campaign, with many patrol posts in northwest Ohio scheduling extra troopers on the roads.

During St. Patrick's Day weekend in 2006, troopers made 501 OVI-related arrests on state roadways. There were 79 alcohol-related injury crashes and four alcohol-related fatal crashes.

Lenawee County is one of 28 counties in Michigan where extra law enforcement officers will patrol specifically for alcohol-related offenses tonight and tomorrow night. The Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning coordinated the federal funding.