Crime & Safety
West Hartford Police Department Receives Grant for DUI Enforcement
The $81,900 grant will go to increased patrols on weekend evenings.
The West Hartford Police Department has received a grant from the Connecticut DOT to help pay for DWI patrols in town, according to a press release.
The $81,900 grant award, which runs through September 2014, will fund two extra patrols on the weekends and the upcoming 2014 holidays, according to the release.
Officers under this program will be deployed from 6 p.m. until 2 a.m. on Thursdays/Fridays and from 7 p.m. until 3 a.m. on Fridays/Saturdays/Sundays.
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“The officers on patrol will be actively searching for motorists who choose to drive while intoxicated on our streets,” the release says. “The officers will utilize marked and unmarked police cruisers for the patrol.”
According to police, there were 218 DWI arrests in West Hartford in 2013. There were 39 motor vehicle accidents involving a driver under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs. Of those 39 crashes, 33 occurred on a Thursday, Friday, or Saturday, police said.
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“For every intoxicated driver removed from our roads, it is one less potential accident and one less potential injury or fatality,” the release says.
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