Pittsburgh area police departments announce roving patrols ahead of St. Patrick's Day Weekend
It's St. Patrick's Day Weekend in Pittsburgh and that means people will be celebrating all across our area but that also means that police will be watching.
Dozens of police departments will have roving patrol this weekend that begin tonight.
So, no matter where your St. Patrick's Day celebrations take you, you'll want to be sure to have a designated driver.
Law enforcement told KDKA-TV that St. Patrick's Day is in the top five holidays where people drink and unfortunately hit the roadways, but they don't want you to test your luck as patrols will be ramping up.
It's the classic line - "Drive sober or get pulled over." This weekend, police are serious about it.
"We will arrest you and if you get arrested, it's expensive, you have to pay for a defense attorney and there are fines involved, and you're going to lose your driver's license," said Chief Ken Truver of Castle Shannon.
"It's a saturation patrol so we're looking for traffic violations, moving violations, equipment violations, and sometimes that leads to probably cause or suspicion of DUI," added Sergeant Robert Petosky, the coordinator of the North Hills DUI Task Force.
A saturation patrol means a large number of officers will be blanketing specific areas looking for impaired drivers, usually at the times and places where DUI crashes usually occur. It's also not just about drinking, police are on the look out for other violations as well.
"It doesn't take much to get to that .08 level of blood alcohol and we're looking into drug-related DUI, that's becoming more prevalent," Sgt. Petosky.
In other words, stay safe.
"You could designate a driver, you could take a rideshare, public transportation, or you could just stay where you are for the night," Chief Truver said.
Again, let your luck lead you home and not to a DUI charge. Make your rideshare plans now and be prepared.
