PSPD to Add Officers as Summer Travel Season Ends

Palm Springs Police Department Encourages the Public to Stay Safe During Final Stretch of Summer Travel Season

 

PALM SPRINGS  – As friends and family plan vacations during the final days of the summer travel season, the Palm Springs Police Department is reminding everyone to stay safe by always choosing a sober way to go. No matter how you choose to celebrate the end of summer and Labor Day weekend, make sure you do so responsibly.

To help keep our community safe during the busy late summer and Labor Day weekend travel season, the Palm Springs Police Department will have additional officers on patrol Aug. 18 through Labor Day (Sept. 6) looking for drivers suspected of driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs. The increased efforts to address impaired driving are part of a national enforcement campaign, Driver Sober or Get Pulled Over. In addition to roving patrols, the Palm Springs Police Department will hold a DUI Checkpoint on August 27, 2021, from 9pm to 3am at an undisclosed location within the City of Palm Springs.

Forty-five people were killed in crashes throughout California over the 2019 Labor Day holiday period, and the California Highway Patrol (CHP) made more than 1,000 arrests for driving under the influence during the 78-hour Labor Day weekend enforcement period alone.

“Driving impaired is risky and puts yourself and others around you in serious danger,” Palm Springs Police Department Sgt. Arnold Galvan said. “If you are taking a road trip over the next few weeks, make good choices and drive like your closest friends and family are in the cars around you.”

Driving while impaired is not just from alcohol. Prescription drugs, over-the-counter medications and marijuana may also impair. If you plan on drinking or taking medications with a driving warning label, let someone who is sober drive. If you see someone driving impaired, call 9-1-1.

Money for this program is provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.