Latest DWI crackdown nets 729 arrests

The state's latest crackdown on drunken driving has netted 729 arrests, state officials said Thursday.

The "Booze It & Lose It" Halloween campaign, which ran Oct. 26-31, also resulted in 24,363 traffic and criminal citations statewide.

"Scary costumes were not the only thing out over the Halloween as impaired drivers also made an appearance," Gene Conti, state secretary of transportation, said in a statement. "Thanks to law enforcement officers from across the state enforcing our laws during this campaign, countless lives were saved."

The campaign included more than 3,100 sobriety checkpoints and dedicated patrols. Wake and Mecklenburg counties had the highest number of arrests for driving while intoxicated, with 47 each. Brunswick County followed with 35 arrests, and there were 32 arrests in Guilford County.

Officers also issued 1,377 safety belt and 272 child passenger safety violations, 6,465 speeding tickets and 758 drug charges.

A total of 641 fugitives were also arrested in the campaign, and 44 stolen vehicles were recovered.

25 Comments

WRAL.com welcomes your comments on this story. All comments are moderated prior to publication based on our posting guidelines. Please review them prior to posting and if your message is not approved.

VIEW ALL 25 COMMENTS

This story is closed for comments. Comments on WRAL.com news stories are accepted and moderated between the hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Latest Comments

That's how I want my Tax dollars spent !

Country Girlz Have MORE fun
November 14, 2012 1:41 p.m.

Get them OFF our roads !!

Country Girlz Have MORE fun
November 14, 2012 1:41 p.m.

BIG THANK YOU TO POLICE .. WAY TO GO !

SingleLensReflex.SLR
November 8, 2012 10:48 a.m.

As annoying as they are nighttime checkpoints/license checks are just as legal as daytime checks. To me though it just smells like entrapment when they set one up just down the road from a club or bar. I haven't had anything to drink in over 15 years so it doesn't bother me to pass through them... nothing to hide... just saying.

Hip-Shot
November 7, 2012 5:38 p.m.

So to All of you that say that a checkpoint is an infringment of your rights, I would like you to return back to when you first got your license and that little tiny handbook you were given. Then When you signed that piece of paper right before you got your picture taken, you agreed to comply with the the laws of the state. If you go back through that handbook, IT READS clearly that the state will allow Law Enforcement Agencies to set up road blocks and check points. There for all of you that state the checkpoints are against your rights.....well you signed "your rights" away on that one. Plus Case Law allows checkpoints: State v. Veazey, N.C. App. , 689 S.E.2d 530, 533–34 (2009) (Veazey II)

BoyInBlue
November 7, 2012 5:03 p.m.