The Damariscotta Police Department has received a $10,000 grant from the Maine Bureau of Highway Safety to reduce crashes, fatalities, and injuries as a result of operating under the influence.
The 2015 Impaired Driving High Visibility Enforcement Program Grant will pay for overtime details during times when drivers are most likely to operate under the influence. The details could include roadblocks or special patrols or both.
“High Visibility Enforcement means officers are expected to make as many traffic stops as possible,” according to the Bureau of Highway Safety. “The motoring public should have the perception that police are actively enforcing traffic laws.”
The program runs from April 1 to Sept. 15 and requires agencies to participate in a national “crackdown” on OUI from Aug. 19 to Sept. 7 with at least one roadblock or two special patrols.
The grant will enable the police department to add two six-hour shifts per week, according to Damariscotta Police Chief Ron Young. The shifts will take place from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. every Friday and Saturday, subject to change.
The department also plans to set up as many as four “safety checkpoints” this summer.
“We want to send a message that impaired driving is not going to be tolerated” in Damariscotta, Young said.
There was a fatal alcohol-related accident on Biscay Road May 25, 2014, and OUI continues to be a problem. Damariscotta police have made three OUI arrests in the last week and a half, Young said Thursday, April 2.
One of the three OUIs was at 8 a.m. and the driver’s blood alcohol level was approximately three times the legal limit, Young said. “They’re not just happening at night,” he said. “They’re happening throughout the daytime as well.”
The Damariscotta Board of Selectmen approved the grant Wednesday, April 1.
“The town would much rather reduce instances of driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs than catch drivers in the act,” Town Manager Matt Lutkus said in an email.
