Two recent operations were designed to put the clamps on crime in the City of Action.

On Thursday, June 19 an operation took place involving the Sheriff’s Operation Center (SOC), Oakdale Police Department, Waterford Police Services, Modesto Police Department, and Stanislaus County Probation Department. The organizations collaborated in an effort to conduct numerous probation searches and other self-initiated contacts to deter and suppress gang activity throughout the region.

In Riverbank alone, there were approximately a dozen probation searches conducted, 14 field contacts and five arrests were made. Law enforcement contacts, officials said, were primarily with documented gang members.

Meanwhile, the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department Riverbank Police Services conducted a D.U.I. checkpoint on Saturday, June 21 on Patterson Road and Hot Springs Lane to crack down on impaired drivers.

There were 662 vehicles screened that passed through the checkpoint. Seven persons were found to be driving on a suspended license, two of these were for D.U.I. suspensions, and one for operating a vehicle without the court ordered ignition interlock device. One of the drivers, whose license was suspended for a prior D.U.I., was arrested at this checkpoint for driving under the influence of alcohol again and was found to have a blood alcohol content above the legal limit.

Funding for this checkpoint was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 32,367 people were killed in motor vehicle traffic crashes across the nation in 2011, and 31 percent (9,878) of those fatalities occurred in drunk-driving-related crashes. Californians witnessed a total of 2,835 deaths with 774 killed in DUI crashes on their streets and highways. In 2012, more than 10,000 people died in alcohol-impaired driving crashes nationwide. Over 800 of those died on California roadways.

Drunk drivers often face jail time, the loss of their driver licenses, higher insurance rates, and dozens of other unanticipated expenses ranging from attorney fees, court costs, having their car towed, collision repair, and lost wages due to time off from work. Even worse, a drunk driver can cause a traffic crash that claims someone’s life or their own.