DUI crackdown in Ventura County
Two fatalities reported over holiday
By Michelle Knight knight@theacorn.com

Two people died and 449 were arrested in Ventura County during a 19-day DUI crackdown, known as Avoid the 14, that ran from Dec. 14 through Jan. 1.

Fourteen law enforcement agencies throughout the county, including sheriff 's deputies, city police, state park rangers and the U.S. Coast Guard joined forces in the stepped-up campaign that comprised a handful of sobriety checkpoints and more patrol officers on the road.

The Ventura County holiday operation was one of 40 multiagency crackdowns across the state.

Police attribute the two deaths that occurred during the crackdown period to drunk driving. A 20-year-old man, who police say was drunk, killed an Arizona man and critically injured a California Highway Patrol officer on Dec. 19, and police suspect an Oxnard man was intoxicated when the car he was driving Dec. 24 flipped over several times, killing him.

The number of DUI arrests in Ventura County during the campaign represents a 56 percent increase over last year's total of 287.

Oxnard Senior Officer Humberto Jimenez, Avoid the 14 coordinator, attributed the rise in DUI arrests to more police cruisers on the streets and a statewide media campaign of radio announcements, billboards and road signs asking motorists to report drunk drivers.

He said officers were told during the campaign to be especially vigilant in getting drunk drivers off the road, but citizens also played a key role in calling 911 when they suspected an impaired driver at the wheel.

"We (law enforcement) can't get them all," Jimenez said. "Enforcement and education work side by side."

Jimenez didn't know how many arrests resulted from citizens' reports, however.

During targeted enforcement periods, law enforcement agencies have to balance "saturation"- assigning more officers to the special assignment, such as Avoid the 14- with having enough officers available for other calls.

"I wish the numbers were down, but it's all a matter of handling calls," Jimenez said.

The 19-day crackdown also included three sobriety checkpoints that netted just four suspected drunk drivers in Oxnard and Fillmore. No one was arrested at the Simi Valley checkpoint.

"Which is good," Jimenez said. "That means the checkpoint is doing its job."

Some question why police advertise sobriety checkpoints, allowing impaired motorists to avoid the area. Law enforcement agencies are legally required to advertise sobriety checkpoints. That doesn't mean that drunk drivers will escape, because officers at the checkpoint are on alert for erratic and illegal maneuvers that might indicate a drunk driver is at the wheel.

Even so, officers and deputies made most DUI arrests while on patrol. The California Highway Patrol, with 80 percent of its force on county freeways and highways, led other law enforcement agencies with 159 arrests in Ventura and 80 in Moorpark. Oxnard police were next in line with 95 DUI arrests.

CHP Officer Shawna Davison said the drivers who were arrested in Ventura County for drunk driving aren't limited to a particular age group but run the gamut from adolescents to seniors.

DUI arrests made during the Avoid the 14 campaign:

•Lost Hills sheriff 's station- 20

•Thousand Oaks police- 15

•Moorpark CHP- 80 •Simi Valley police- 19 •Camarillo police- 14