LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department is cracking down on impaired drivers across the city.
The department announced it will be reigniting its "DUI Strike Team" this month.
"We will be enforcing any impaired driving, any reckless driving, any traffic safety issue. It is our priority to take that on," said Sgt. Roberto Angulo, who will be overseeing the team. "We will also be doing apprehensions. In the chance that you are charged with a crime that is an accident with substantial bodily harm or fatal, if you generate any sort of charges, we are going to find you."
The DUI Strike Team was first created back in 2018. However, it was dismantled and the officers in the team redirected to address "trick driving and street takeovers."
"We had kind of a spike of that in the valley, and the decision was made, the manpower and efforts toward that," Angulo said. "We recently had a new bureau commander come in, they've taken a look at our fatal collisions. Today, currently, we are at 67 years to date one of the main causes in those is impaired driving, and the decision made was to take those bodies--- those 11 officers and to take every opportunity we can to not only reduce those numbers but to save lives."
Sgt. Angulo said there are 11 highly trained officers making sure our roads are safe. The team will be out enforcement traffic laws seven days a week but will mainly focus its efforts once the sun goes down.
"Their primary thing is enforcement, but they are specialist in what they do," Angulo said. "We have a list of the officers who are certified as drug recognition experts, so they are able to testify in court as experts when it comes to being impaired by drugs, not just alcohol. They are the ones who can go out and can identify a little bit better than the average officer because of the specialty skills they bring."
Angulo said the DUI Strike Team will also be focusing its efforts on repeat offenders.
"We have an intervention program. So what the intervention program is, we have one officer who is dedicated to read through every arrest report when it comes to DUIs and he identifies mostly DUI seconds, repeat offenders. What interventions does at that point is the officers go out they make contact with them and we offer them free community resources. What does community resources do is it could range from counseling, it could range to meeting with the victim impact panel," Angulo said.
Angulo wants to remind the community that a DUI infraction can come with a hefty fine of up to $12,000.
