Crime & Safety

Police to Staff DUI Checkpoint in Murrieta

The checkpoint will be established at an undisclosed location in an attempt to nab drunken and otherwise impaired drivers, as well as driver license scofflaws.

Murrieta police Thursday were mum about the location of a planned checkpoint, saying only that it would be staffed from Friday night to Saturday morning.

โ€œDeaths from drunk and drug-impaired driving are going down in California,โ€ said Christopher J. Murphy, Director of the California Office of Traffic Safety, in a prepared statement released by Murrieta police.

"That still means that hundreds of our friends, family and co-workers are killed each year, along with tens of thousands who are seriously injured.

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"We must all continue to work together to bring an end to these tragedies.ย  If you see a Drunk Driver โ€“ call 9-1-1," Murphy said.

The checkpoint will be staffed at a location undisclosed to the public between 7 p.m. Friday and 3 a.m. Saturday.

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Funds for the operation came from the state Office of Traffic Safety.

According to Murrieta police Sgt. Jon Gruwell, "over the course of the past three years, DUI collisions have claimed and resulted in 43 injury crashes, harming 71 of our friends and neighbors."

The cost of a DUI conviction can run as high as $10,000, authorities said.

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