Police step up holiday patrols
By JOLENE CRAIG, jcraig@newsandsentinel.comPARKERSBURG - Law enforcement will be out in the Mid-Ohio Valley making sure drivers and people in neighborhoods have a safe Fourth of July.
"We will have (driving under the influence) patrols out on roads and extra officers in City Park," said Capt. D.G. Barker with the Parkersburg Police Department.
Barker said there will be more officers out today with day shift staying a little bit and the midnight shift coming in a little earlier.
"The overlap of shifts also helps," he said.
Wood County Sheriff Jeff Sandy said his office will not have more deputies working with normal patrols.
"We feel that the deputies we have out are sufficient for the county," Sandy said.
The departments said the Fourth of July is typically uneventful with a few DUIs and some calls about illegal fireworks.
Barker said Parkersburg police will be checking neighborhoods and responding to calls about fireworks.
"We always get those calls and we just want to make sure people aren't going to get hurt," he said.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol will also have troopers out in full force looking for DUI drivers in an effort to have a holiday weekend free of accidents.
During last year's holiday, nearly 50 percent of the 15 people killed on Ohio roads were involved in alcohol-related crashes.
The patrol's efforts are being conducted in conjunction with a national effort to reduce impaired driving incidents and crashes with increased and specialized enforcement made possible through federal overtime funding and works in conjunction with Operation C.A.R.E. (Combined Accident Reduction Effort).
Barker and Sandy said the Fourth of July holiday is typically pretty quiet.
"We usually don't have many problems," Barker said.
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gorilla
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07-04-09 9:53 AM
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There's a reason for patrols being increased on holidays. We have a percentage of citizens that fail to be responsible citizens.
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