Police using ‘saturation’ patrols in DWI crackdown

Also, Monroe wraps first-time program on helmet safety

Monroe and East Brunswick police are cracking down on drunken driving this month as part of the national holiday season Over the Limit Under Arrest campaign.

Additional police officers have been on the road since Dec. 8 looking for motorists who may be under the influence, and the saturation patrols will continue through Jan. 2.

The concentrated national effort is designed to help raise awareness about the dangers of drinking and driving through high-visibility enforcement and public education tools including posters, banners and mobile video display signs. The program, launched in 1999, combats drunken driving during some of the busiest travel times of the year.

“This is a critical law enforcement program that can save lives during a time of the year when impaired driving traditionally increases by nearly 10 percent,” Pam Fischer, director of the New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety, said in a statement. “This initiative brings attention to not only the serious fines and penalties drunk[en] drivers can face, but the grave dangers these motorists pose to all individuals on the road.”

Police asked that anyone who plans to drink, designate a driver who will not drink; take mass transit or a taxicab; or spend the night where the activity is held. Also, the public is asked to report impaired drivers to law enforcement by dialing #77 on cell phones; and to buckle the seatbelt.

In other Monroe police news, the department wrapped up a recent campaign to promote helmet safety among children. The effort, “Wheels Under Your Feet? Helmet on Your Head! Think Positive,” was a partnership between the police department, Safe Kids Middlesex County and the Level 1 Trauma Center of Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, New Brunswick.

This was the first year that Monroe police rewarded children for wearing helmets when participating in wheeled activities such as bicycling, skateboarding and rollerblading. All those “caught” wearing their helmets between June 1 and Sept. 30 were issued a “summons” that could be redeemed for a free slice of pizza and a small soda at D&T Restaurant, Villa Laura Ristorante, Antonio’s Restaurant & Pizza and Papa-A-Pizza, all in Monroe. In addition, those children were put into a raffle for a gift certificate to Kim’s Bike Shop in New Brunswick.

Neera Shah, a first-grader at Barclay Brook Elementary School, was this year’s raffle winner.

Police said the township saw an increase in helmet use from 13 percent to 53 percent during the course of the program.