Los Gatos Weekly-Times

LGPD gears up for the Avoid the 13 campaign

By Shari Kaplan

Drunk drivers are becoming a rarer breed, especially during the holiday season. That's just the way local law enforcement wants to keep it--Los Gatos/Monte Sereno police included.

Beginning Dec. 12 and continuing through midnight on New Year's Day, the Los Gatos/Monte Sereno Police Department is gearing up for the 24th year of Avoid the 13, a campaign aimed at cracking down on individuals driving under the influence.

All county law enforcement agencies participate, including city police departments, the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department, the local office of the California Highway Patrol and college and university police.

For the past two years, no one has died at the hands of a drinking driver in Santa Clara County during the campaign. To extend that record, this year's Avoid the 13 campaign includes 2,749 hours of officer overtime hours, nine roadside sobriety checkpoints, four nights of high-intensity, saturation strike teams and three nights of free rides by the Alpha Cab company for people who question their own ability to drive.

Los Gatos police have scheduled 200 hours of overtime for one extra officer every night of the campaign, according to Sgt. Mike Yorks. One reserve officer is assigned on weekdays to enforce DUI laws, with two assigned on weekends. LGPD officers will also assist Campbell police with a sobriety checkpoint on Dec. 13.

Last year, three Los Gatos police officers were honored by the campaign for making a significant number of DUI-related arrests during the Avoid the 13 period: Officer Tim Stephens arrested nine individuals, while officers Steve Wahl and Mike Wharton made four arrests each.

Wahl said one incident involving a drunk driver was memorable because of what the man said after he finally noticed the lights and sirens of the patrol car behind him. When asked if he'd been drinking, the man asserted, "Of course I have. I'm a roofer!"

Capt. Jeff Miller remembers pulling over a man for speeding, at which time the man told Miller, "If I were you, I would arrest me, I'm so drunk." The driver's blood-alcohol level was three times the legal limit of .08.

Seventeen Santa Clara County law enforcement agencies participate in Avoid the 13, which is sponsored by the Santa Clara County Police Chiefs Association and the California Office of Traffic Safety. The campaign's name stems from the original number of agencies that started it. Avoid the 23 is the spin-off campaign in San Mateo County.

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