By JASON CAMPBELL 

The Bulletin 

If you’re having a drink for the road, Lathrop Police Services will provide the chaser. 

This past weekend the agency deployed a DUI checkpoint in the community to kick off a maximum enforcement period that will conclude with saturation patrols over Labor Day Weekend – commonly regarded as the official end of summer. 

While deputies assigned to Lathrop are always on the lookout for drunk drivers and those operating a vehicle while impaired, a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will provide additional manpower. 

“There are so many ways to get home safely without driving,” Acting Lathrop Police Chief Ryan Biedermann said. Driving drunk or high is dangerous, irresponsible and causes too many senseless tragedies. 

“We hope that drivers get the message that driving impaired will not be tolerated.”

According to a release advertising the maximum enforcement period, there were 376 deadly crashes nationwide in 2017 over Labor Day weekend, and almost one-third of those accidents involved a drunk driver. In California alone last year two people were killed and 31 were injured on accidents that took place on Labor Day alone. 

“Driving while impaired is illegal,” the release read, “whether it’s alcohol, prescription drugs, over-the-counter medications or marijuana.”

Police are encouraging anybody who observes what they believe to be an impaired driver to call 911.