Officers conducted sobriety checkpoints in Rehoboth Beach, Clayton, Wilmington, and Newport, along with more than 100 DUI saturation patrols statewide.
In addition to the 39 DUI arrests, officers issued 10 citations for underage drinking violations, apprehended seven wanted individuals, made 23 drug arrests, made four felony arrests, and issued 23 seat belt citations, four child restraint citations, six cellphone citations and 49 citations for various other criminal violations.
According to OHS Community Relations Officer Alison Kirk, New Year’s Eve also signaled the end of the 2011 Checkpoint Strikeforce and Safe Family Holiday campaigns. With the 39 DUI arrests from New Year’s Eve weekend, that brings the total number of people arrested for DUI as part of the two campaigns to 490. Kirk noted that there were 96 fewer DUI arrests made as part of the two 2011 campaigns combined than in 2010.
“Success of a campaign can be measured in many ways,” Kirk said. “The decrease in DUI arrests may indicate that more people are using designated drivers or moving the party to home because they are taking notice of the high visibility enforcement presence and that we mean what we say.”