"Go have a good time, just don't drive."
This is the message that Wauwatosa Police Dept. Lt. Tim Sharpee wants all Thanksgiving revelers to take to heart. The Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office, the Wisconsin State Patrol and many other law enforcement agencies are joining Wauwatosa in deterring drunk driving. Hartland, Waukesha, Delafield, Pewaukee and Jefferson County have all pledged to deploy extra police and setup DUI checkpoints this week.
Thanksgiving does not have the reputation of being a drinking holiday, yet it represents one of the highest rates of DUI arrests and accidents. College students in town for the long weekend and family members arriving a day early to celebrate lead to a spike in drunk driving.
In order to combat this trend the Southwest Wisconsin Multi-Jurisdictional Drunk Driving Task Force will be out from 8 p.m. on Nov. 24th to 4 a.m. Nov. 26th. They will be looking for impaired drivers and warn that if you drink and drive you will be caught. In the Wauwatosa area every highway, interstate and major roadway will be heavily patrolled. Think you can sneak by on side streets? Think again. Police will be keeping an eye on every portion of the city.
The goal of police is not to ticket large amounts of people, it is to keep Wisconsin safe.
"We really want people to know what we're doing, so they plan ahead and make this holiday a safe one," Sharpee stated.
The staff and attorneys at Hupy and Abraham would like to encourage you to take a taxi, designate a driver or plan to stay the night. This simple decision may be the one that saves a life.