Police seek help to fight drunken driving...

Police seek help to fight drunken driving

The wheels are in motion for Laguna Beach police to receive a

state grant designed to help counter drunken driving.

On Tuesday, the City Council approved a consent-calendar item

allowing an agreement between the Police Department and state Office

of Traffic Safety to give the city more than $81,000.

Sgt. Jason Kravetz wrote the plans for the program, “Combating

Drunk Drivers through Education and Enforcement,” in January, he

said.

The education component of the program is set to include an

anti-drunk driving theatrical program at Laguna Beach High School,

two-day training sessions for the 103 Laguna businesses licensed to

sell alcohol and printing thousands of informational cards.

On the enforcement side, the grant will fund four drunken driving

checkpoint operations and 12 nights of saturation patrols, where

police work overtime to look for intoxicated drivers, Kravetz said.

Police will also spend some of the money on six new radar guns.

Police will be able to start using the money in October, with the

checkpoints and patrols expected to take place in 2005, Kravetz said.