VCU Police Set Sobriety Checkpoint

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Virginia Commonwealth University Police will target drunken and drug-impaired drivers beginning Saturday night, March 29. 

VCU Police will operate a sobriety checkpoint from 11 p.m. on Saturday until 3 a.m. on Sunday, March 29.  The checkpoint will take place along the 1000 block of Main Street. Officers also will check for seatbelt compliance. The checkpoint replaces an earlier one scheduled for March 15 which was cancelled due to inclement weather.

The checkpoint is being funded through a Zero Tolerance Grant from the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. Troopers from the Virginia State Police and agents from the Virginia Alcohol Beverage Control Bureau of Law Enforcement have been invited to assist in the operation.

A similar checkpoint in the same area last September resulted in the screening of 493 vehicles. Police arrested six people for driving under the influence, and cited others for driving with revoked or suspended licenses or possessing drugs. The screenings resulted in 12 vehicles being towed from the scene. During the checkpoint, police following up on a warrant searched one vehicle and discovered 20 grams of cocaine, one half ounce of marijuana and nearly $2,000.

According to the National Center for Statistics and Analysis of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 17,602 people in the United States, including 379 in Virginia, were killed in alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes in 2006, the most recent year for which such crash statistics are available.