The police officers blend into the thriving party scene, milking drinks in the corner of a north Fresno bar.
They are undercover -- a man and a woman -- watching for partiers who are obviously drunk or are downing drink after drink.
Fresno police are taking enforcement of the California DUI laws to a new level -- which officers expect will bring both success and outrage. Saturday night, the traffic unit unveiled a new operation in which plainclothes police officers stake out bars and target drunk patrons. If the heavy drinkers get behind the wheel, officers in unmarked cars follow them and call in marked police cars to pull them over.
Four people were arrested during a four-hour operation at two bars in northeast Fresno.
"It's a new idea," traffic Capt. Andy Hall said. "It's a new way to address the problem of drunk driving."
Hall say it's necessary because of a string of DUI collisions -- some of them fatal -- in which drivers had come from drinking at a bar or restaurant.
Traffic detective Mark Van Wyhe said that while he expects some people to be upset, he's trying to make the community a safer place.
"We're not trying to discourage them from going out and having a good time. We just want them to be smart about it, whether that's getting a designated driver or a taxicab."
Van Wyhe and a crew of officers conducted its first-ever bar surveillance operation on Feb. 10 but didn't go public with the program until the second go-round this past Saturday. In the first one, six people were cited on DUI charges after undercover officers were inside El Molino Rojo and El Dorado nightclubs.
Police will target bars in areas that have the most DUI collisions.
"There may be people who are offended by officers conducting surveillance in bars," Van Wyhe said, "but the harsh reality of it is that people continue to drink and drive, and we're going to take whatever measures necessary to stop this senseless crime and save lives."
Shoudl something like this happen to you, you need to contact our office right away at 916-505.4434.
Source: http://www.officer.com/
