Fort Bend County regulation enforcement arrested 19 individuals on suspicion of driving whereas intoxicated over the Fourth of July vacation, a significant uptick in arrests in comparison with different latest no-refusal weekends, in response to the district lawyer’s workplace.
“I’d say persons are positively appearing just like the pandemic is over,” mentioned Alison Baimbridge, a vehicular crimes prosecutor with the Fort Bend County District Lawyer’s Workplace.
A no refusal weekend refers to an operation whereby cops and regulation enforcement have faster entry to look warrants for drivers that refuse a breath or blood take a look at.
DWI arrests declined considerably for a lot of the coronavirus pandemic. As an illustration, county officers made eight arrests over Memorial Day and 12 over Christmas and New 12 months’s Eve, in response to knowledge offered by Wesley Wittig, government assistant district lawyer.
County officers have funded the no-refusal weekends by way of a grant that didn’t exist earlier than, so earlier statistics are more durable to search out, however the county in 2013 arrested 30 individuals, a file, in response to a Houston Chronicle article.
The aim of the grant is to enhance public security by growing patrols throughout the hours when impaired driving is almost definitely to happen, officers mentioned.
Throughout the newest operation, officers made 19 arrests, of which 5 individuals consented to giving a blood pattern, and 14 refused and had been served with search warrants, in response to the district lawyer’s workplace.
Labor Day would be the subsequent no-refusal weekend, officers mentioned.
