La Porte PD Begins DWI Enforcement Ahead Of July 4th Holiday

LA PORTE, TX - The La Porte Police Department has gotten an early start on DWI enforcement for the July 4th weekend, largely because of a grant from the Texas Department of Transportation. Police began enhanced DWI patrols on June 25, and plan to continue through July 8, according to Sgt. Bennie Boles, public information officer for La Porte PD.

Boles said the grant will pay for overtime for officers who will be tasked with looking for drunk drivers.

"Anyone operating a vehicle and found to be intoxicated will be arrested," he said. "Suspected intoxicated drivers who refuse to provide a breath test will be the subject of a search warrant and will have their blood drawn for blood alcohol level testing."

Nearly 10,000 lives are lost every year in an alcohol related crash. Harris County unfortunately leads the nation in alcohol related fatality crashes, Boles said.

RELATED: HPD Begins DWI Enforcement Ahead Of July 4th Weekend

On Tuesday, Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo announce the start of HPD's July 4th DWI initiative. Like Boles, Acevedo said Harris County leads the nation in DWI crashes.

"We've been doing a lot of work trying to reduce the number of people that are getting injured or killed by the most preventable crime that we deal with as law enforcement," Acevedo said. "There's really no excuse for drinking and driving..."

Since June 30, the Houston Police Department has made 3,862 DWI arrests, which is up from the first six months of 2019 when 2,218 arrests were made, he added.

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