DWI Enforcement for the Holiday Season

TYLER — Through December 31, the Tyler Police Department is providing more officers to look for suspected drunk drivers during this Christmas Season. This enforcement program is funded by a grant from the Texas Department of Transportation.

During the New Year’s Holiday, the Tyler Police Department along with Smith County Law Enforcement agencies will be out in force, on the lookout for drunken drivers, and they won’t be taking “no” for an answer. Starting Friday, December 28, 2012 through Tuesday January 1, 2013, a multi-joint effort between the Smith County District Attorney’s Office and police agencies from all over Smith County will participate in the “No-Refusal” DWI Campaign once again.

Upon the arrest of a suspected drunk driver, he or she will be asked if to submit to blow into a breath-test machine or take a blood test. If the driver refuses, officers will obtain an immediate search warrant signed by a judge on call to have blood drawn by a nurse on staff at the Smith County Jail. The blood is then analyzed to determine whether the driver’s blood-alcohol concentration is 0.08 or higher, the legal limit for driving in Texas.

Police say this program has proven to be an effective tool to combat drunken drivers. They say it is the intent of all law enforcement agencies that this effort will act as a deterrent, persuading people to avoid driving while intoxicated because they know that police officers will be conducting sobriety testing with or without driver’s consent. In short, police caution: “Please Don’t Drink and Drive!”