Jefferson City police awarded DWI vehicle to step up enforcement

The Jefferson City Police Department will soon have an addition to its traffic unit targeting DWIs.

The city council accepted a $35,000 grant from MoDOT Traffic and Highway Safety Division Tuesday for a new DWI enforcement vehicle.

The police department won the award after participating in all five of the state DWI enforcement campaigns.

This will be the first specified DWI vehicle for JCPD and help step up the department’s enforcement even more.

JCPD arrested a total of 185 people for drinking and driving in 2015, according to Sgt. Doug Ruediger.

Alcohol or drugs also played a role in 43 crashes in Jefferson City, according to the highway patrol’s Statewide Traffic Accident Records System.

This time of year over the holiday season, the percentage of deadly highway crashes related to alcohol spikes, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

“There’s a lot of Christmas parties that have been going on and work parties and New Year’s Eve parties, and we’re gonna be out there looking for impaired drivers and you know just taking them to jail if they’re driving while impaired,” Ruediger said.

So far this year, JCPD has responded to at least 54 alcohol or drug-related crashes.