GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – As you work to finalize your holiday plans, make sure it includes a sober ride to wherever you’re going.
No, your eyes aren’t deceiving you. There are more police vehicles on the road as it’s part of the nationwide Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over campaign.
Lt. Brad Strouf with the Green Bay Police Department explains their current efforts.
“I’m normally putting anywhere between eight and a dozen extra officers,” he explains. “And that’s on top of the normal patrols.”
The initiative began on December 14th and so far Green Bay Police officers have made six OWI arrests, which is compared to forty OWI arrests they made last year in seventeen days.
“I don’t look at low arrest numbers as necessarily being a sign of something wrong,” he says. “It probably is actually more of a sign of something right.”
In order to keep yourself and the public safe, don’t be afraid to ask your bartender about a ride home.
“We never want to see our patrons go out and cause an accident or worse,” explains Don Mjelde, Brown County Tavern League President. “We want our customers to come back.”
He says in the last year his organization has given out 2,200 safe rides to people in the community.
Presently, Mjelde in the midst of launching a safe ride program in connection with Lyft.
“The reason why I created this is I kind of want to provide an additional means of getting people around safely,” he says.
A lot of times bars and taverns can help an intoxicated individual get home that had driven to their establishment, but a better plan would be to entirely eliminate driving yourself in the first place.
“That’s why we would just say leave the keys at home,” explains Mjelde. “At least you’re acting safely and responsibly.”
