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Samantha Hayes ReportingSalt Lake City police wanted to catch drunk drivers when they set up a recent checkpoint for just a few hours. They caught several drunk drivers and a lot more.
Police caught so many people breaking the law, it's likely they'll consider doing this type of thing again, even though it's a bit of a challenge to set it up.
On 33rd south and 13th east from 10 pm to 3 am, seven drunk drivers were arrested, but police also ticketed 48 other drivers. They arrested someone for having heroin, another for an outstanding warrant, and arrested another person for pulling his pants down in front of police at the checkpoint.
Joe Cyr, Salt Lake City Police: "Anyone could look at those numbers and say, ‘Hey, seven drunk drivers off the road in on busy location.' It also sends a message prior to the holiday to be responsible, have a designated driver, call a cab."
In order to set up a checkpoint, Salt Lake PD had to run a notice in the paper, get approval from a judge and display a sign 500 feet away from the location. Police felt it was the best way to get the attention of drivers before the 4th. That, of course, is the goal of law enforcement all over the country this week.
