Mocky

FYI.....

The Cuyahoga County DUI Task Force Launches Drunk Driving. Over the
Limit. Under Arrest. Crackdown on August 15, 2008

Operation Wolf Pack Designed to Get Impaired Drivers off Cuyahoga County
Roads

Cuyahoga County DUI Task Force 8/13/08 PRNewswire-USNewswire

Over the past five years, 137 people were killed and nearly 4,500 were
injured in 6,948 alcohol-related crashes in Cuyahoga County. An
astonishing 41 percent of the 332 traffic fatalities in our county from
2003-2007 were alcohol-related so finding more effective ways to keep
impaired drivers off our roadways is key to improving traffic safety.
The 45 member agencies of the Cuyahoga County DUI Reduction Task Force
are joining together this month in a cooperative effort to send the
message loud and clear to Northeast Ohioans: law enforcement officers
will not tolerate drunk driving on our roadways and they'll be out in
force to catch you if you drive impaired. No matter where you are in the
county, impaired drivers won't be able to avoid Operation Wolf Pack,
which launches Friday, August 15.

Operation Wolf Pack, which is funded through a grant from the Ohio
Department of Public Safety, is part of the nationwide Drunk Driving.
Over the Limit. Under Arrest. crackdown. The 45 law enforcement agencies
joining forces in the effort will combine impaired driving checkpoints
and saturation patrols every Friday and Saturday night through Labor Day
weekend. At sobriety checkpoints, law enforcement officers stop vehicles
in a predetermined sequence (such as every other vehicle or every fifth
vehicle) and briefly evaluate drivers for indications of alcohol or drug
impairment. Saturation patrols, in contrast, involve increased
enforcement targeting a specific geographic area to identify and arrest
impaired drivers, with officers looking for signs of impaired driving,
like excessive speeding, weaving, or driving left of center. Between 75
and 100 officers will assist in the countywide enforcement activities
each weekend. The sites selected for enforcement are carefully targeted
to high-risk areas that have been the scenes of previous alcohol-related
incidents.

You might think that having a few drinks doesn't affect your driving
abilities, but when you reach Ohio's legal blood alcohol content (BAC)
limit of .08, driver reaction time, visual function, information
processing and judgment are seriously impaired-even if you don't feel
drunk. 'There's simply no excuse for driving impaired,' said Commander
Mark Kwiatkowski of the Bedford Heights Police Department, speaking on
behalf of the Cuyahoga County DUI Task Force. 'If you make the selfish
and irresponsible choice to get behind the wheel after drinking, you
risk your own safety and that of everyone else on the road with you, you
risk thousands of dollars in fines and court costs, and you risk a black
mark on your record that can affect your future job prospects. If you're
not smart enough to stop yourself, rest assured that we'll stop you.'



Over the three weekends of Operation Wolf Pack, a different location has
been designated as the base of operations each night, with a briefing
scheduled for officers and the media each evening. The media are welcome
and will be accommodated at each night's event. If requested, rides with
officers during their patrols will also be facilitated. We urge you to
come out to the locations listed on the following page and help get the
message out to the public that if motorists have been drinking, they
should not drive.

The following areas have been targeted for the Wolf Pack details:

Friday, August 15

-- I-480 / SR 42 / Rockside Rd. - The briefing will begin at 9:30 pm at
the Cleveland sobriety checkpoint on Dennison at 38th St.; six police
departments will be working the detail at this location.

-- Richmond Rd. - Euclid and South Euclid police departments will be
conducting checkpoints and seven departments will be conducting
saturation patrols in support of the this detail.

Saturday, August 16

-- I-271 / Mayfield Rd. / Euclid Ave. / Cedar Rd. - The briefing will
begin at 11:00 pm at the Cleveland sobriety checkpoint on Euclid Ave. at
Arabella; six police departments will be working the detail at this
location.

Friday, August 22

-- I-480 / Columbia Rd. - The briefing will begin at 10:30 pm at the
Olmsted Falls sobriety checkpoint on Columbia Rd. one mile south of
I-480; eight police departments will be working the detail at this
location.

-- I-480 and I-271 - Maple Heights Police Department will conduct a
checkpoint and nine police departments will be conducting saturation
patrols in support of the detail.

Saturday, August 23

-- I-480 / Broadway - The briefing will begin at 10:30 pm at the
Garfield Heights sobriety checkpoint on Turney Rd. at Crofton; six
police departments will be working the detail at this location.

-- Rockside / I-480 / SR-42 - Seven Hills Police Department will be
conducting a sobriety checkpoint and eight police departments will
conduct saturation patrols in support of the detail.

Friday, August 29

-- Miles Rd. / I-480 / Aurora Rd. - The briefing will begin at 10:30 pm
at the Bedford Heights sobriety checkpoint on Miles Rd. at I-480; the
Euclid and Lyndhurst Police Departments will be conducting sobriety
checkpoints and eleven police departments will conduct saturation
patrols in support of the detail.

-- Rt. 82 / Bagley Rd. - North Royalton and Berea police departments
will be conducting checkpoints and nine departments will be conducting
saturation patrols in support of the detail.

Saturday, August 30

-- Pearl Rd. / I-71 / Snow Rd. / Brook Park Rd. - The briefing will
begin at 9:00 pm at the Parma Heights sobriety checkpoint on Pearl Rd.;
Parma will be conducting a checkpoint and six departments will be
conducting saturation patrols in support of the detail.

-- I-90 / Lorain Rd. / Lake Ave. - The Cleveland Police Department will
be conducting a checkpoint and six departments will be conducting
saturation patrols in support of the detail at this location.

The Cuyahoga County DUI Task Force is a multi-jurisdictional coalition
of 45 law enforcement agencies dedicated to making Northeast Ohio roads
safer for all of us; the task force is part of the Greater Cleveland
Safe Communities Coalition, led by University Hospitals Rainbow Babies &
Children's Hospital.

SOURCE Cuyahoga County DUI Task Force

Mark Kwiatkowski, +1-440-343-1536 (24 hours),