Officers on lookout tonight
By John Joyce
Published in News on December 31, 2014 1:46 PM
The Goldsboro Police Department and Wayne County Sheriff's Office will conduct normal operations tonight, New Year's Eve, but will not participate in a multi-agency DWI campaign.
"We don't have anything planned, just our routine patrol," said Capt. Steve Mozingo of the Wayne County Sheriff's Office.
Mozingo said the Governor's Highway Safety Booze It and Lose It campaign that pools resources from multiple local law enforcement agencies over holidays and holiday weekends to conduct DWI checkpoints is usually run locally through the Goldsboro Police Department.
He said the sheriff's office had not been notified of anything going on with such a campaign, but he did plan to deploy some additional patrol deputies in and around the midnight hour tonight.
Maj. Michael West of the Goldsboro Police Department said his officers will stay available for calls tonight and are more likely to be on the lookout for drunken drivers around the city than to be writing speeding tickets.
"The shift captains know we are under a Booze It and Lose It (period) so it will be up to them if they want to set up checkpoints and where. As far as a multi-agency operation, no, we won't be doing that," he said.
Still, getting behind the wheel after consuming alcohol is not a good idea.
AAA Carolinas public relations manager Tiffany Wright said it is always better to start the night off with a plan than to end up in jail.
Whether it is to hand off the keys to a designated driver, to call a cab or to simply stay put wherever you end up at the end of the night -- have a plan, she said.
"Forty-two people died on N.C. roads during this holiday period last year," she said. "And that was up five from the previous year."
AAAs in other states sometimes conduct campaigns where people can call for a free ride, but in the past that type of campaign has not been successful in the Carolinas.
Instead, have a designated sober driver with you wherever you go, Ms. Wright said.
"Designate a sober driver to be with you the whole night. Or call a cab. A lot of folks that aren't typically social drinkers do tend to drink on Christmas and on New Year's Eve, and they add to the drunk drivers on the road. Don't be one," she said. "You know the cops will be out there, there will be checkpoints, so don't put yourself in that position."
First Sgt. Jerry Burton of the N.C. State Highway Patrol said his troopers will also not be participating in a multi-agency campaign, but that won't stop them from working together to keep drunks off the road.
"Oh, they might just get together and do a wolfpack operation -- that means they get together and work an area. It's a lot of cars in one place," Burton said.