By Staff
ST. JOSEPH - Berrien County law enforcement officers cracked down on alcohol-related driving offenses during the month of December during the You Drink &Drive; You Lose campaign.
The agencies were able to make 34 arrests during this time.
Berrien was one of 22 counties who received funding from the Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning to conduct these special drunk driving patrols from December 20 to January 2.
Officers stopped 1,245 vehicles during this time in Berrien County, according to the statistics to OHSP. And in addition to the alcohol arrests, there were 20 felony and 74 misdemeanor arrests. They also wrote 441 speeding citations and issues 47 safety belt citations to motorists over the age of 15 and 10 child restraint citations.
More than 500 agencies participated in this statewide crackdown. With 321 of the agencies reporting statistics to OHSP, Michigan officers arrested 1,141 motorists for drunk driving and 678 for other alcohol-related offenses.
Preliminary results show that there were seven traffic fatalities in Michigan over the Christmas and New Years holidays, four of which involved alcohol, according to the Michigan State Police, Criminal Justice Information Center.