Tulsa County Deputies Ramp Up Patrols To Prevent Drunk Driving On New Year’s Eve

A lot of people will be celebrating New Year's across Green Country, and law enforcement officers are encouraging people to have a plan if they decide to drink.

The Tulsa County Sheriff's Office will have extra specialized deputies out solely focusing on making sure people aren't driving drunk. But they say the number one goal isn’t to arrest people.

Sergeant LaMont Hill says they hope they don't have to arrest anyone for driving drunk, because that means people are staying safe. He says he wants people think twice before getting behind the wheel.

Grant money from the Oklahoma Highway Safety Office allows the sheriff's office to have extra deputies working for holidays like New Year's Eve. These deputies are trained in DUI enforcement.

"We will just be moving throughout different parts of the city doing what is called DUI saturation patrols. No checkpoints, because checkpoints are easy to dodge. If a drunk wants to miss a checkpoint they can,” said Hill.

By The Numbers:

On New Year's Eve in 2023, they made 32 traffic stops and arrested two people for DUI. In 2022, they made 25 traffic stops and arrested two people for DUI.

Sergeant Hill says the saturation patrol has been an effective tactic.

“I actively saw people walking to their vehicles, thinking about driving, and then seeing one of our vehicles of our cars with us in it, and they would stop and go back over to the curb and call an Uber,” said Hill. "That's what we want. We don't want drunk drivers getting behind the wheel. That's the win for us."

Keeping The Community Safe:

Sergeant Hill says their job is to keep people in Tulsa safe, and keeping drunk drivers off the roads is one of the best ways to do that.

"Everybody drives, for the most part, and rarely is it that the drunk driver is the one that gets hurt in drunk driving crash. It's always the innocent. So, our job is to protect the innocent,” said Hill.

"Have an idea what you want to do if you want to drink that doesn't involve you driving afterwards."

Have A Plan:

Law enforcement encourages people who plan to drink on New Year's Eve to either use a ride share to get home or have a designated driver.