The Boone County Sheriff’s Department conducted a sobriety checkpoint Wednesday on the 1300 block of East Prathersville Road, just north of the city.
“It was actually fairly productive for a Wednesday night,” said Sgt. Brian Leer of the sheriff’s department’s Traffic Enforcement Unit.
Out of the 67 vehicles that passed through the checkpoint, 17 arrests were made, according to a sheriff’s department news release. Among these were five DWI arrests, seven people arrested for driving with a suspended or revoked license and one charge of possession of drug paraphernalia.
The checkpoint began around 10:45 p.m. and lasted until about 1 a.m. Thursday. Leer said the checkpoint was shut down earlier than normal to incorporate a DWI enforcement saturation into the program for the night. Leer said a typical checkpoint would run until at least 3 a.m.
“What we wanted to do last night was kind of a combination enforcement effort between the sobriety checkpoint and the DWI saturation,” Leer said.
Thirteen traffic stops were made during the saturation effort and during patrolling efforts that coincided with the checkpoint.
Leer said the DWI enforcement saturation involved officers on a special assignment patrolling specifically for drunk drivers in the area after the conclusion of the checkpoint. Other reports, such as thefts, go to patrol officers on their regular assignments.
“These folks don’t have to answer those types of calls,” Leer said. “So, that gives them time to concentrate on patrolling and looking for the violations and identifying the intoxicated drivers out there driving around.”
A total of 12 deputies from the sheriff’s department participated in the checkpoint, two of whom are in field training. Two members of the Hallsville Police Department and a member of the Columbia Police Department’s DWI Enforcement Unit assisted the deputies. Workers from the Boone County Jail assisted with prisoner transportation.
Leer said during the checkpoint, most officers were assigned to work the actual line checking cars.
“We always keep a couple of cars circling the area for those people who come up to the checkpoint and turn around trying to evade the checkpoint because they’re impaired, or they don’t have a driver’s license or something of that nature,” Leer said.
According to the release, the event is funded by a grant from the Missouri Department of Transportation Division of Highway Safety.