February 16, 2011 - Members of the Houston Police Department's Traffic Enforcement Division along with the Harris County District Attorney's Office, Crime Stoppers and Mothers Against Drunk Driving (M.A.D.D.) announced a joint city-wide initiative against drunk driving.  Photos of today's announcement are attached to this news release. 

The initiative is designed to reduce drunk driving accidents and associated fatalities by using a combination of public education and heightened enforcement of drinking and driving offenses. 

In addition to heightened patrols and enforcement, for the next six months, the HPD Breath Alcohol Testing (BAT) vehicles will be deployed at strategic locations around the city. 

"We're going to have a couple on the north side and a couple on the south side every week," said HPD Assistant Chief Brian Lumpkin.  "We're going to get out there and find these drunk drivers before they get into crashes," Chief Lumpkin added. 

This initiative was launched on Feb. 10 and has already netted some positive results.

"Last weekend we made 108 arrests in three days," said HPD Captain Carl Driskell of the Traffic Enforcement Division.  "That's 19 more than what we had a year ago," Capt. Driskell added.

Any media interested in ride alongs during the initiative should contact the HPD Public Affairs Office at 713-308-3280. 

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