Fourth of July weekend means barbecue, fireworks and often lots of drinking. In Bend, police are trying to keep people from drinking and driving by focusing a special unit on that specific crime.
The Bend Police Department is dedicating two patrols to pull over drivers suspected of driving under the influence during the July 4 weekend.
Emily Cureton Cook
The unit consists of two patrols that will be posted at various locations throughout Bend over the holiday weekend. Their goal is exclusively to stop anyone suspected of driving under the influence.
Bend Police spokesperson Sheila Miller said residents and visitors can expect a much larger police presence over the weekend.
“Bend has long had a pretty significant DUI problem. That’s why we started our DUI-specific traffic officers,” Miller said.
Deschutes County has already seen nearly 600 DUI incidents this year, according to District Attorney John Hummel.
In addition to increasing DUI patrols, Miller says city police will be enforcing a new ordinance banning all fireworks, which took effect last year.